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Epochs of Modern History 



EDITED BY 
EDWARD E. MORRIS, M.A., J. SURTEES PHILLPOTTS, B.C.L. 

AND 

C. COLBECK, M.A. 



THE EARL V HANO VERIANS 



EDWARD E. MORRIS 



n o in 5 ly 10 V 



Vl 20 "VE 25 "Vm 30 




EPOCHS OF MODERN HISTORV 



THE 



EARLY HANOVERIANS 



EDWARD E, MORRIS 

PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH IN THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE 



WITH MAPS AND PLANS 



NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
1886 






D 23 tm 



THE LIBRARY h 
OF CONGRESS U 

WASHINGTON 



GRANT & FAIRES, 
PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE. 



This book did not form one of the Epochs of History 
as I originally designed the series. Many of the 
subjects treated in it were intended to find a place in 
other volumes. But in the course of writing such 
other volumes room was not spared for them, and 
those who managed th^ 'Series 'atlfer my departure from 
England thought that,; i^^iis^ volume was needed to 
supply a gap. It is a continuation of my Epoch 
called ' The Age of Anne.' 

In compiling this little book I have done my best 
to remember the cardinal principles of the series, to 
make the division of history horizontal rather than 
vertical, to omit superfluous names, and to make the 
treatment interesting. Though the name of the Epoch 
is taken from English history, some of the subjects — 
the Turkish Wars, the Polish Succession War, Anson's 
Voyage — are not usually treated in our school his- 
tories ; and of many minor matters the same can, I 
think, be said. Biography has always a charm for the 
young, and I have tried to make use of its attraction 
in lives of Leibnitz, Newton, Walpole, Queen Caro- 



vi Preface. 

line, Maria Theresa, Atterbury, Oglethorpe, Berkeley, 
and the chief literary men of the time in France as 
well as in England. My account of the romantic 
attempt known as the Forty-five has been made very 
full. 

Melbourne University: 

July I, 1885. 



CHRONOLOGICAL 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



BOOK L 

THE LONG PEACE, 

CHAPTER I. 

EUROPE AFTER UTRECHT. 

PAGE 

1713. Peace of Utrecht. A general peace . . i 

Important as closing a period of wars . . 2 
Survey of Europe — 

France • • 3 

Spain . 4 

Italy S 

The Netherlands. Austrian ... 6 

Holland 6 

Germany — much divided .... 7 

The Emperor. Austria .... 7 

Saxony 8 

Prussia 8 

The electors 8 

Poland 9 

Russia and Sweden 10 

The Turks . , 10 

CHAPTER II. 

GEORGE THE FIRST. 

1714. Aug. I. Death of Queen Anne . . . ... 10 

George, the new king, not in haste to come 

to England . . . . ,. .10 



VIII Contents. 

PAGE 

His father, Ernest Augustus, duke of Hanover, 

first elector of Brunswick-Luneburg . ii 

His mother, the Electress Sophia . . .12 

Her mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia, daughter of 

James 1 12 

Her father, Frederick, Elector Palatine (Winter) 

King of Bohemia ...... 13 

1714. June 8. Death of Electress Sophia .... 14 

The family — House of Brunswick or of Han- 
over . . 14 

Its origin . . . . . . . 15 

Description of the court of Hanover . . 15 

King George I. once a suitor for hand of Queen 

Anne 17 

Table of the family ...... 19 

CHAPTER HI. 
THE ELECTORATE. 

The Electorate compared with England — ■ 

In area as one to nine .... 20 

In population as one to twelve . . .20 

In army nearly equal . . . ' . 22 

In revenue as one to twenty . . .22 

Extreme unpopularity of union with Hanover 23 

Proposed separation . . . . . 25 

Later history of Hanover . . . .25 

The two greatest men, Newton and Leibnitz 26 

.Life of Leibnitz 26 

CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST MEASURES. 

Arrival of George I. at Greenwich . . .27 

Gracious to Whigs, rude to Tories . . 27 

Bolingbroke's removal from office . . .27 

Cabinet entirely Whig ..... 28 



Contents. ix 



King ignorant of English 28 

A constitutional king : interfering only in foreign 

affairs ........ 29 

Bremen and Verden acquired for Hanover . 29 
Parliament votes liberal civil list and arrears of 

pay for Hanoverian troops .... 30 

General election : a large Whig majority . . 31 

Revenge on Tory ministers .... 31 

Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond to be im- 
peached 31 

The two latter escape. Tw^o years later Oxford's 

impeachment dropped .... 32 
Bolingbroke becomes Secretary of State to the 

Pretender 32 

CHAPTER V. 

THE FIFTEEN. 

Attempts to restore the Stuarts . . . .33 

1715. That generally known as ' the Fifteen ' . . 35 
Bolingbroke urged Lewis XIV. to make war. 

Lewis died 35 

John, Earl of Mar, leader of the Jacobites . 35 
Sept. 6. The rising in Scotland. Standard raised . . 36 
Edinburgh Castle. ' Powdering the hair ' . 36 
No serious rising in England. Arrests of Jaco- 
bites ........ 37 

Ormond lands in Devonshire, returns to France 37 
Earl of Derwentwater and Mr. Forster head a 

rising in the north ..... 38 

Nov. 17. Battle of Preston, easy victory for royal troops 38 
Nov. 17. Battle of Sheriffmuir, doubtful victory in Scot- 
land 38 

After the battle the Jacobite army melted . 40 
Arrival of James too late . . . . -41 

Punishment of the rebels .... 42 
Roads made in the Highlands . . . .42 



X Contents. 

CHAPTER VI. 

SEPTENNIAL ACT AND PEERAGE BILL. 

PAGE 

Septennial Act to alter the period that a Par- 
liament might continue from three years to 
seven 43 

Peerage Bill, attempt to limit royal prerogative 
in creation of peers. Its effect . . 44 

Passed by the Lords, rejected by the Com- 
mons 45 

Pamphlet war. Addison and Steele . . 46 
Addison as a minister 47 

CHAPTER Vn. 

FRANCE AND SPAIN. 

1715. Sept I. Death of Lewis XIV 48 

Lewis XV., only five years old ... 49 
Distressed condition of France . . .49 
Regency of Philip, Duke of Orleans . . 49, 50 
Strongly in favour of a peace policy and friend- 
ship with England 50 

1717. Triple alliance — France, England, and Holland. 

Object to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht 50 

1718. Quadruple alliance. Emperor Charles VI. joins 50 
Kingdom of Sardinia established . . -So 
Philip of Spain married Elizabeth Farnese of 

Parma 51 

Cardinal Alberoni 'Si 

Excellent minister for Spain ... 52 

In Europe, a disturber of the public peace . 52 

His various schemes ..... 54 

A little war ensued. Admiral Byng at Messina, 54 

1718. Dec. II. Death of Charles XII 54 

1719. Spanish attempt on behalf of Pretender — abor- 

tive 54 

The French took Fontarabia, the English Vigo. 55 
Spain then yielded, and Alberoni was dismissed 55 



Contents. xi 
CHAPTER VIIL 

LAW AND THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 

PAGE 

1718. In France. Law's proposal to help the finance. 55 

Mississippi scheme 56 

1720. In England, the South Sea Bubble . . 57 

Many minor Bubbles 57 

General crash. Walpole called to office . 58 
Comparison between French and English bub- 
bles 58 

Low state of morality 59 

1720. Plague at Marseilles. Heroic conduct of the 

bishop ........ 59 

CHAPTER IX. 

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 

His parentage, education and earlier history 59-61 

Character and policy — love of peace . . 62 

Corruption ....... 63 

Very strong as financier .... 64 

Treatment of national debt . . . .64 

Interest of the same 66 

Sinking fund ....... 66 

Free trade 66 

1723. Wood's Pence 67 

Triumph of Dean Swift .... 67 



CHAPTER X. 

ATTERBURY AND BOLINGBROKE. 

Bishop Atterbury, able man, strong Jacobite . 68 
Proof found of his correspondence with Pre- 
tender 69 

Deprived of bishopric and sent into exile . 69 

Bolingbroke returned, ' two-thirds restored ' . 70 

His writings 71 



XII Contents. 

CHAPTER XL 

NEARLY A EUROPEAN WAR. 

PAGE 

Queen of Spain anxious to secure appanage for 
her son 72 

New minister of Spain — Ripperda . . 72 

Infanta sent back to Spain and another wife 
chosen for Lewis, daughter of Stanislaus 
Leczynski, former King of Poland . . 73 

The Ostend Company of the Emperor irritates 
English and Dutch 73 

Proposed that Don Carlos should marry Maria 
Theresa 73 

Fear of preponderating power of Spain and 
Austria leads to a general league (Treaty of 
Hanover) . . . , . . . 73 

Admiral Hosier sent against Porto Bello, but 
war never broke out . . . . -74 
1727. Siege of Gibraltar 75 

Treaty of Seville 75 

CHAPTER XH. 

DEATH OF GEORGE I. AND OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON. 

Wife of George L, Sophia Dorothea of Zell, 
shut up for thirty-two years . . . 75, 76 

Her summons to the king .... 76 
1727. June II. Death of George L on the road to Hanover, 

near Osnabruck 76 

Death of Sir Isaac Newton . . . . tj 

Some account of his life 77 

CHAPTER XIII. 

GEORGE II. AND QUEEN CAROLINE. 

George II. succeeds, aged 44 ... 78 
His appearance and character . . . .79 



Contents. xiil 



PAGE 

Proposed duel with Frederick William of 

Prussia 79 

His avarice 80 

He spoke English, but bad English . . .80 

Queen Caroline. Her character . . , 8i 
George II. founder of the University of Got- 

tingen 83 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PORTEOUS RIOTS. 

1736. The cause. Captain Porteous firing on Edin- 

burgh mob . , 84 

Found guilty of murder and reprieved . . 85 
Rioters seized him and hanged him . . .85 

CHAPTER XV. 

WALPOLE'S FALL. 

His love of power 86 

Opposition had four elements — Jacobites, 
Tories, friends of Prince of Wales, discon- 
tented Whigs 87 

1733- Opposition first won in Excise Bill . . . 87 
William Pitt. His appearance and eloquence 87, 88 
Frederick, Prince of Wales .... 89 

1737. Death of Queen Caroline . . . .89 
1742. Jan. Resignation of Walpole .... 90 

He became Earl of Oxford . . . .90 



XIV Contents, 

BOOK II. 
THE WARS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE TURKS. 
Section I. — The First War. 

PAGE 

Turks in Europe up to seventeenth century- 
advancing 91 

1683. Culminating point— siege of Vienna, when John 

Sobieski drove them off .... 91 

In his army Prince Eugene was an officer . 92 
Eugene's war, ending with . . . . 92 

1699. Jan. Peace of Carlowitz ...... 92 

Venice and the Turks . . . . '93 

After Utrecht, war renewed against Turks . 93 
1716. Aug. 5. Battle of Peterwaradin 93 

1717. Siege of Belgrade. Complete victory of Eugene 94 

1718. Treaty of Passarowitz . . . . .95 

Section II. — The Second War. 

1736. Death of Prince Eugene . . . . 96 

After Eugene, Seckendorf commander-in-chief 96 

General failure in the campaign ... 97 

1737- Then Francis, Duke of Lorraine, commander- 
in-chief ......... 97 

Disgraceful loss of Belgrade ... 98 

1739. Peace of Belgrade ...... 98 

CHAPTER n. 

POLISH SUCCESSION WAR. 

1733- The war broke out ..... 98 

Poland an Elective Monarchy . ..99 

Death of Augustus the Strong ... 99 



Contents. XV 

PAGE 

Two candidates 99 

Stanislaus Leczynski, former king, supported 

by France . . . . . 99, 100 

Augustus, son of the late king, supported by 

Russia and Austria . . . . '. 100 

Sides taken in the war ..... loi 

Arrangements made at the end of it . . loi 

Incidents of the war 102 

Eugene's last campaign 102 

1735. Oct. Peace of Vienna 102 

1733. Oct. 5. Death of Augustus, King of Poland . . 103 
1766. Death of Stanislaus, Duke of Lorraine . 103 

CHAPTER III. 

JENKINS' EAR. 

War with Spain. Story of Jenkins' ear . . 103 
Question whether the story is true . . 104 
Real cause of the war. Expansion of England 

in the New World 104 

The Assiento 105 

1739. Oct. 19. War declared amid general joy . . . 106 
War became much larger, being merged in 
Austrian Succession War .... 106 

Events of year 107 

Capture of Porto Bello .... 107 

Attack on Cartagena. Failure . . . 108 

Rest of Spanish war. — Privateering . . 109 

CHAPTER IV. 

ANSON'S VOYAGE. 

Its object — to co-operate with Vernon . .110 

His fleet scattered iii 

Capture of Spanish galleons . . . .112 
At Tinian. At Macao .... 112, 113 
Return home. Anson made a peer . . 113 



XVI Contents. 

CHAPTER V. 

AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. 

PAGE 

1740. Oct. 20, Death of Emperor Charles VI. . . . 114 
The Pragmatic Sanction . . . .114 
Maria Theresa. Her appearance and character 115 
Matches suggested for her — Frederick the Great 116 

Don Carlos 73 

Electoral Prince of Bavaria . . . 116 
Her marriage with Francis, Duke of Lorraine, 

afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany . .116 
Various claimants for whole or part of Austrian 

dominions 117 

Frederick of Prussia — Silesia . . . .117 
Spain wanting appanage for Don Philip . 118 

Elector of Saxony 118 

Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria . . 118 
Policy of France, shaped by Marshal Belleisle 

to keep Germany divided .... 120 
Alliance against Austria. Treaty of Nymphen- 

burg — France, Bavaria, Spain, Saxony, Russia 121 
Treaty of Hanover. George H. promises neu- 
trality for one year ..... 121 
Invasion of Austrian dominions by a French 

army ........ 121 

Maria Theresa crowned at Presburg . . 122 

Making appeal to her Hungarian subjects, , 
rouses their enthusiasm .... 123 
Electorof Bavaria elected Emperor Charles VII. 124 
Cause of Maria Theresa gains, that of Charles 

VII. loses ground 125 

Retreat of French army from Prague . .125 
Maria Theresa crowned at Prague . . 126 
War in Italy , . . . . . . 126 



Contents, xvil 

CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 

PAGE 

England and France only allies of combatants 127 
Earl Stair commanding the English . .127 

French under Marshal Noailles . . . 128 
Situation that led to the battle . . .128 

1743. June 27. The battle itself 130 

Conduct of King George II 131 

Results of battle 132 

CHAPTER VII. 

DETTINGEN TO FONTENOY. 

Maria Theresa prospering, but obstinate in con- 
tinuing the war ...... 132 

Results of this — 

1. France becomes a principal . . . 133 

2. Frederick again joins enemies of Austria 133 
Second Silesian war .... 133 
Union of Frankfort .... 133 
Invasion of Saxony .... 134 
Peace of Dresden .... 134 

Lewis XV. His illness and popularity: the 

' Well-beloved ' 134 

Sea-fight near Toulon 135 

Death of Charles VII. ' the bold Bavarian ' . 135 
Election of Francis, Maria Theresa's husband 135 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF FONTENOY. 

Marshal Saxe. Life and character . . 136 
Campaign in Flanders. French besieging 

Tournay ....... 137 

Cumberland marches to relief of it . . 137 

Battle of Fontenoy 138 

Advance of English infantry . . . 139 

' Gentlemen, we never fire first '. . . . 140 
a 



XVIII Contents. 



How the advance of the column was met . 141 
Account by an eye-witness .... 141 
The Irish Brigade 142 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE FORTY-FIVE. 

Walpole anxious for peace, lest war should lead 

to rebellion 143 

Charles Edward, the Young Pretender. His 

pedigree, character and education . 144, 146 
Contrast between Old and Young Pretenders , 147 
Account of ancestor of Young Pretender, John 

Sobieski 147 

Army collected under Marshal Saxe . . 148 

Transports scattered by a storm . . . 148 
Without help from France, Charles Edward 

starts . . 148 

1745. July 25. Landing at Moidart ..... 149 
Poor prospects. Interview with Lochiel . 149 

Aug. 49. Raising of standard 150 

Prospects improve ...... 150 

Sir John Cope, instead of facing his enemy, 

marches off to Inverness .... 151 

And Charles. Edward marches into Edinburgh 152 
Cope returns to Dunbar ,. . . . . 153 

Battle of Prestonpans ... . . . 153 

Reasons of English defeat — 

1. They were badly led .... 154 

2. Strangeness of Highlanders , . 155 
Oct. 31. Scotland secured, Charles Edward starts for 

London ....... 156 

By the Carlisle route .... 157 

Preparations in England — 

1. Wade's army in Northumberland . . 158 

2. Cumberland's army at Lichfield . . 158 

3. King George and the Guards at Finchley 158 
Dec. 6. Charles Edward begins retreat from Derby . 159 



Contents. xix 

PAGB 

Feelings in England. Relief. Curiosity . i6o 

Skirmish at Clifton i6i 

No French force came i6i 

Command in Scotland given to General Hawley i6i 

Battle of Falkirk 162 

But after the battle the Highlanders began to 
separate ....... 163 

Further retreat northwards .... 164 

Command given to Cumberland . . . 164 

1746. April 16. Battle of Culloden 165 

After the battle rebellion put down with severity 168 
And measures taken to prevent future rebellion 169 
Charles Edward after the battle. His adven- 
tures and escapes : flight to France . . 171 
1748. Expulsion from France .... 172 

His later history and that of his brother. 173, 174 

CHAPTER X. 

REMAINDER OF CONTINENTAL WAR. 

Marshal Saxe prepares to invade Holland . 175 
He takes Brussels, Antwerp, Namur . 175, 176 
Battle of Roucoux. Victory of Saxe . , 176 
Invasion of Holland ..... 176 
Revival by Dutch of Stadtholdership . . 176 
Battle of Lauffeld. Victory of Saxe over Cum- 
berland . . 177 

Siege of Bergen op Zoom and Maestricht . 177 

Campaign in Netherlands and Italy . . 178 

Siege of Genoa 178 

CHAPTER XI. 

PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 

State of things that led to the peace . . 179 

Dutch saw their cities taken .... 179 
English were gaining nothing at heavy cost . 179 
French also anxious for peace . . . 180 
Spain lukewarm in the war .... 180 



XX Contents. 



PAGB 

Congress at Aix-la-Chapelle . . , .180 
Terms of the peace. Status quo ante bellum . 181 
Austria, discontented and the questions not really 

settled 181 

State of England, according to Lord Chester- 
field, very bad 183 

She soon recovered from the exhaustion . . 183 
Emigration of soldiers to Nova Scotia . . 183 
Later history of Marshal Saxe .... 184 



BOOK III. 

RELIGION AND LETTERS. 

CHAPTER L 

WESLEY AND BUTLER. 

Low State of religion in England . . . 185 

Authorities quoted. Archbishop of Canterbury 185 

Preface to Butler's ' Analogy ' . . . . 186 

1703-91. John Wesley . . . . . . .186 

1708-88. Charles Wesley 188 

1714-70. George Whitefield 189 

1692-1752. Joseph Butler. Bishop of Bristol, afterwards 

Durham ........ 191 

The ' Analogy ' 192 

CHAPTER n. 

BERKELEY AND OGLETHORPE. 

( Two eminent philanthropists.^ 

1684 -1753. Bishop Berkeley. Bishop of Cloyne . . 193 
His scheme for a Christian University in Ber- 
muda . 194 



Contents. 



XXI 



PAGE 

1689-1785. James Oglethorpe. His history . . . I96 

The prisons 197 

The Colony of Georgia 198 

His later life 199 

CHAPTER HI. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

Section I. — The Poets. 

State of letters. Well rewarded , . . 200 

1700-48. James Thomson. ' The Seasons ' . . 201 

1684-1765. Dr. Young. ' Night Thoughts ' ... 203 

1716-71. Thomas Gray 204 

Section II. — The Novelists. 

A Time of Prose 205 

Beginning of novels ..... 205 

1689-1761. Samuel Richardson 205 

1707-54. Henry Fielding 206 

1721-77. Tobias Smollett 208 

1713-68. Laurence Sterne 209 

Section III — Dr. yohnson and his Circle. 

1709-84. Dr. Johnson 210 

The Club . . . . . . .213 

1728-74. Oliver Goldsmith 214 

1729-97. Edmund Burke 214 

1716-79. David Garrick 214 

1723-92. Sir Joshua Reynolds 214 

1737-95. Edward Gibbon 214 

CHAPTER IV. 

FRENCH LITERATURE. 

1694-1778. Voltaire, real name Francois Arouet . . 215 

Early life 215 

Visit to England 216 

' Henriade ' 217 



XXII 



Contents. 



His play 

Histories 

Tales 

Earthquake at Lisbon .... 

Intercourse with Frederick the Great 

His influence 

Johnson's opinion of Voltaire and Rousseau 
1712-77. Jean Jacques Rousseau .... 

His early life 

His prize essay ..... 
Three great books — 

1. ' New Heloise ' . . . . 

2. ' Social Contract ' . . . . 

3. ' Emile on Education ' . 
Philosophical and religious views 
Later life. ' Confessions "... 
English influence on French thinkers 

1689-1755. Montesquieu 

' Les Lettres Persanes ' . 

• L' Esprit des Lois ' . . . . 



PAGE 

. 218 
219 

. 220 
220 

. 221 
222 
223 

. 223 
224 

. 224 

225 

. 225 

225 
. 226 

227 
. 228 

229 
. 229 

229 



Index . , . .231 



MAPS. 

Western Europe after Peace of Utrecht. To face Title 

PAGE 

The Electorate To face 20 

"^ Turkish Wars and Treaties ... "96 

<■) Anson's Voyage " no 

Upper Danube . . . . . . 122 

Dettingen ' . . 129 

Netherlands, 1745-8 . . . '. " 133 

Fontenoy 138 

The Forty-five . . Between pages i$o and i^i 



TABLES. 

Descent of the Georges 19 

House of Austria 119 

The Later Stuarts 14S 



THE EARLY HANOVERIANS. 



BOOK I. 
THE LONG PEACE. 



CHAPTER I. 

EUROPE AFTER UTRECHT. 

In the year 17 13 the quaint Dutch city of Utrecht was 
the scene of an important ceremony. It took place in a 
house which has been since puHed down to 
make room for a barrack, then the residence utrecht, 
of the Bishop of Bristol, probably the last ^7^3- 
English bishop ever employed upon such an errand. 
Yet the ceremony was one in which a bishop might well 
take an interest, for it was the ceremony of signing a 
treaty of peace, which put an end to a long, wearisome, 
and bloody war. 

A great many trea.ties claim notice in history, each 
professing to be a general pacification of Europe; but 
many seem really to be little more than truces. 
Very few years elapse from the date of their ^ general 

■' ■' ^ ^ peace. 

signature, and the nations are found at war 
again. A treaty of peace settles boundaries until another 
war be ended with another peace. The attention, how- 
ever, of the student must be claimed for the more import- 

B I 



2 The Early Hajioverians. A.D. 17 13 

ant treaties, and such importance must mainly be decided 
by the permanence of the arrangements which they make. 
The peace of Utrecht closes a period of fighting which 
may nearly be described as coinciding with the reign of 
Lewis XIV., King of France. Little altera- 
Utrecht im- ^-Jqjt^ ^g^g made in the boundaries of Western 

portant. 

Europe from the signing of the peace of 
Utrecht to the time when the French Revolution, filling 
the people of France with a new spirit, began to excite 
the neighbouring nations. In this period of eighty years 
there was only one great European war at all to be com- 
pared in scale or intensity with the wars of the preceding 
century — that, namely, which is called the Seven Years' 
War. During the first half of the period, the part which 
forms the subject of this little volume, of the two great 
rivals, France and England, neither was disposed to fight. 
France was exhausted by her efforts, crippled by debt, 
and badly governed ; England was under the rule of an 
enlightened minister who saw that peace was the best 
gift he could give his country — not exhausted, indeed, but 
somewhat dissatisfied with fighting other people's battles. 
During the second half of the period England was consoli- 
dating her dominion in India, and then became engaged 
in an unfortunate struggle with her colonies in America. 
France, which had suffered great losses both in India and 
in America, latterly helped the colonies of England to free 
themselves and to become the United States. Neither the 
Seven Years' War nor the smaller wars of these eighty 
years made much diflference in the map of Europe. 
The date of the treaty of Utrecht may then be taken 
as a suitable point for a survey of the political 
Survey of geography of Europe in the eighteenth cen- 

tury. 
Without doubt France was the most important coun- 



A. D. 17 1 3 Europe after Utrecht. 3 

try. It required coalitions of other nations with long 
and united efforts to check her career of conquest ; and 
though she was now exhausted by the struggle, and was 
no longer what she had been before Marl- 
borough's victories, yet she could still hold 
her own against any single nation. The treaty of Utrecht 
came most opportunely for France. The Grand Alliance 
had beaten her, and was preparing to follow up its series 
of victories by actual invasion of her territory. Had the 
movements of the allied armies been governed by a 
single mind, terms of peace might have been dictated to 
her under the walls of Paris ; but diversity of counsel is 
the weakness of an alliance, and France profited by the 
vacillation and discord amongst her enemies. On the 
south, west, and north-west there are distinct natural 
boundaries for France. Her eastern and north-eastern 
boundary line has frequently changed according as in 
her numerous wars this warrior nation has succeeded or 
failed. It is not now, and was not at the time of the 
treaty of Utrecht, marked throughout by natural features : 
but the following differences must be noted between the 
frontier of that time and the frontier marked in maps of 
our day. Alsace, the province between the Vosges 
Mountains and the Rhine, was then under French rule, 
though since the Franco-Prussian war of 1 870-1 it has 
belonged again to Germany ; and some parts of the duchy 
of Lorraine are now French, though then the whole 
duchy was independent, except that ' the three bishop- 
rics,' Metz, Toul, and Verdun, in the duchy, yet not of it, 
formed outposts of France. Without Lorraine, Alsace 
seems to have no right to belong to France ; it juts into 
Germany like a long, narrow peninsula, with the nar- 
rowest isthmus of junction near Belfort. Before Utrecht 
the French had held a few towns across the Rhine, but 



4 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 17 13 

at the peace these were ceded. The Rhine was the 
French boundary from the town of Basle to the httle 
town of Rastadt, where the treaty was signed between 
France and the Emperor in the year after Utrecht, 
Avignon was the territory of the Pope, Dotted about 
France there were still duchies with rights more or less 
independent of the French Crown, Although the greater 
French kings and their ministers had uniformly pursued 
a policy of consolidation, there remained in France a 
great deal of political independence arising out of feudal- 
ism and a great variety of provincial laws and customs 
with the force of law. These distinctions were not swept 
away until the Revolution. 

In reckoning the power of France account must be 
taken of Spain, for on the throne of Spain there sat a 
French prince, and although the strongest 
pledges had been given that the crowns of 
the two countries should never be united, similar pledges 
had been disregarded, and princes of the same house 
might be expected to co-operate for its common advan- 
tage. But Spain had lost much of her power ; she had 
been shorn of almost all her outlying possessions. The 
Low Countries had fallen to Austria, together with Milan, 
Naples, and Sardinia ; Sicily to the Duke of Savoy. Later, 
an exchange was made between Sardinia and Sicily : the 
Duke of Savoy became King of Sardinia, whilst the king- 
dom of the Two Sicilies, i. e. Sicily and Naples, was made 
an appanage for a younger son of the House of Austria, 
The only European possession outside the peninsula re- 
maining to Spain was the Balearic Islands ; and even of 
these England held Minorca. On the mainland also 
England kept tight hold of Gibraltar, which she had won 
during the recent war. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that of late years the various provinces which Spain 



A. D. 1 7 13 Europe after Utrecht. 5 

held in different parts of Europe had not proved a 
source of strength to her, but of weakness ; some have 
maintained that she was in a stronger position without 
them. 

The neighbouring country Portugal, moreover, may- 
be described as a perpetual blister in tlie side of Spain — 
always inclined to be in favour of England because of 
Spain's natural alliance with France. 

Spain's position may be summed up in the remark 
that her ancient renown gave her still an importance in 
Europe which her present power hardly justified. 

In Italy, Austria had succeeded to the position formerly 
held by Spain — the pre-eminence amongst the secular 
princes. The States of the Church occupied 
all the central part of the peninsula from the 
borders of the duchy of Naples as far as the mouth of 
the Po. Besides Austria, the Pope, and Savoy, there 
were four duchies — Tuscany, Parma, Piacenza, Modena 
— and three republics, sole representatives of the repub- 
lican spirit which had distinguished the Italian cities in 
earlier history, Lucca, Genoa, Venice, not to mention the 
tiny commonwealth of San Marino. Tuscany, which 
had risen out of the mediaeval republic of Florence, 
took the lead among the duchies, and was called a 
grand duchy. Venice was far the strongest of the 
cities, having recently recovered from the Turks her 
dominion in the Morea (though she was soon again to 
lose it), and still holding some of the Ionian Isles and 
part of the mainland across the Adriatic. Italy, with 
ten governments, was * a house divided against itself,' 
and helped to make Aus-tria strong without being strong 
herself. 

The most important item in the treaty of Utrecht was 
the transfer from Spain to Austria of the government of 



6 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1713 

the Low Countries, or Netherlands, henceforth known 
as the Austrian Netherlands. The Dutch 
The Nether- certainly engaged in the War of the Spanish 
Succession in order that they might them- 
selves be secure against the attacks of France. Their 
country had within memory of the living suffered terribly 
from unjustifiable invasions of the French. The English 
also in that war were swayed by considerations for the 
Dutch, as well as by other motives. All Marlborough's 
campaigns, with the single exception of that of Blenheim, 
were directed to the clearing of the French out of the 
Low Countries prior to making an attack upon France 
itself. In all probability, if the cession of the Low 
Countries could have been made by Spain at once, the 
war would have been altogether avoided. The Dutch 
regarded it as essential to their safety that between their 
country and France there should be a tract of land 
belonging to a government not under the dominion of 
France. To obtain this barrier they had lavishly expended 
treasure and blood, and their finances were now heavily 
crippled by debt. Having obtained it they practically 
retired from the field of European politics, and took little 
part in future European wars. 

Frederick the Great said that from the accession of 
WiUiam III. Holland was following the pohcy of England 
— ' nothing more than a little boat sailing in 
the wake of a powerful ship.' It might fairly 
be answered that the captain was seated in the little 
boat giving his commands how the ship should steer ; 
for until the Dutch cut themselves adrift after the 
treaty of Utrecht England may be said to have fol- 
lowed a Dutch quite as much as Holland an English 
policy. It is truer still to say that both pursued a Euro- 
pean policy, and no praise can be too strong for the 



A.D. 17 1 3 Europe after Utrecht. 7 

heroic stand made by this Httle country in the cause of 
freedom. 

Outside the immediate circle of European pohtics 
Holland had an importance of her own in the possession 
of many colonies. Her colonial empire was not even 
then so large as that of England, but it was of consider- 
able extent. Ceylon then belonged to Holland. 

Germany was a most divided country. It contained 
the enormous number of between five and six hundred 
independent or almost independent states, for they owed 
a nominal allegiance to the Emperor. This 
large number of course included not only 
electorates and duchies, but also prince-bishoprics and 
free cities. It is only in our own day that unity has come 
to Germany, and it has not come in any way through the 
action of Austria, The various German princes, keeping 
up each a little court, as far as possible in imitation of 
the French Court at Versailles, ground down their unfor- 
tunate subjects with heavy taxation. If now and then 
there was a kindly and good prince, he was the exception 
rather than the rule. 

The Emperor was still called Emperor of the Holy 
Roman Empire. There was still a nominal election to 
the office, but practically the Emperor elected was always 
the head of the family of Hapsburg, the House of Austria, 
Austrice est Imperare Orbi Universo was still the proud 
boast of this proud family (' Austria should rule the 
world '), but even those who made the boast must have 
felt how false it was. Once the head of this House was 
not Emperor only, but King of Spain, ruler of the Nether- 
lands and of large portions of Italy, Then came a 
separation between the two branches of the House, The 
Netherlands had gone with Spain, but the Spanish 
Hapsburgs had ended, and now the treaty of Utrecht 



8 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 13 

gave the Netherlands back to Austria. The hereditary- 
dominions of the House of Austria formed the nucleus of 
her power, and very various these dominions were. It 
was curious that the chief power in Germany should be 
in the hands of a sovereign the chief part of whose own 
dominions was not really German at all. The extent of 
the Austrian dominions was nearly the same as that of 
the Austrian empire to-day, in which the German element 
is proportionately small. In the course of this history it 
will be seen how Hungary, a non-German possession, 
proved itself of great importance to the House of Austria. 
Of the other German States Saxony was very much 
divided. The princely family had first split into two 
lines, one of which established primogeniture. 

Saxony. 

the Other did not. The representative of the 
first line was called the Elector of Saxony. His name 
was Augustus the Strong, a name earned by physical, not 
moral qualities, and he was at this time also the elected 
King of Poland. The Elector of Saxony later became a 
king. The other line divided and subdivided itself till it 
had become a heap of small separate states, all those, 
namely, that begin with the prefix Saxe, such as Saxe- 
Weimar, Saxe-Coburg. 

Another Elector, the Elector of Brunswick, was just 
about to become King of England, and the Elector of 

Brandenburg was King of Prussia, having 

Prussia. & & ' o 

received the title from the Emperor in order 
that the Prussian troops might be secured to the side of 
the Emperor and the Grand Alliance in the Spanish Suc- 
cession War. 

It cannot be too often impressed upon learners that 

by the German title Elector (Kurfiirst) is 

Elector. ^ , , . ^ ^ \ 

meant one who has a right to vote at the 
election of the Emperor of the so-called Holy Roman 



A. D. 17 1 3 EiLrope after Utrecht. 9 

Empire. Until the middle of the seventeenth century 
there were seven Electors, three archbishops, and four 
secular princes. The prelates were those of Mainz or 
Mayence, Treves, and Cologne ; the secular princes were 
the Margrave of Brandenburg, the Elector of Saxony, 
the King of Bohemia, and the Elector Palatine. Any 
title less than King was gladly merged in the proud title 
of Elector. To these seven the Duke of Bavaria was 
added at the peace of Westphalia. For years he had 
held the dominions, and therefore claimed the vote of the 
Elector Palatine. Lastly the Duke of Brunswick-Liine- 
burg was made the ninth Elector, because he joined the 
Grand Alliance. 

Poland was in a very unsatisfactory condition, always 
in danger of setting her neighbours' houses on fire. The 
causes were the elective monarchy and the 

Poland. 

turbulence of the nobility. The danger of an 
elective monarchy is that the faction which is defeated at 
the election may resent its defeat, and take up arms on 
behalf of its candidate. Such armed intervention occurred 
more than once in Poland. The elections were always 
more or less riotous, neighbouring nations often trying 
to profit by the confusion. Some forty years before the 
treaty of Utrecht, Poland had, in the person of John 
Sobieski, a hero for a king — the hero who drove back 
the Turks from Vienna. But Poland needed a states- 
man rather than a hero. The Elector of Saxony, Augus- 
tus the Strong, was elected to succeed Sobieski, and 
reigned until he was defeated by Charles XII. of Sweden, 
who told the Poles to elect another king ; whereupon they 
elected one of their own nobles, whose name was Stanis- 
laus Leczynski. He, however, was only able to reign 
as long as Charles XII. was able to maintain him. On 
the fall of Charles, Leczynski retired to France, of which 



lo The Early Hanoverimis. A.D. 17 14 

country his daughter afterwards became Queen Consort. 
These characters reappear in the course of this history. 

Behind Western Europe lay a ring of states less 

advanced in civilisation. In the north-east there was 

still continuing rivalry, if not actual contest, 

Russia and between those two remarkable men Charles 

bweden. 

XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Rus- 
sia. The latter had the more persevering nature, the 
greater desire for material progress, as well as the greater 
resources. Russia was becoming in every way a greater 
nation than Sweden ; and from this time forward, in great 
European wars, the part that Russia would play had 
always carefully to be considered. Sweden, after the time 
of Charles XII., practically retired from interference in 
the affairs of Europe, and pursued henceforth the same 
policy as Holland, and for the same reason. 

Moreover a new power, the Turks, had by this time 
secured a place in Europe, much to the dis- 
gust of many, who thought that no efforts 
would have been too great to keep them out of Christen- 
dom. 



CHAPTER II. 

GEORGE I. 



On the death of Queen Anne, on an eventful Sunday 
morning, August i, 1714, .both the Privy Council and 
the House of Commons met. Messengers 
King"orEng- were at once sent to convey the news to 
^^"*^- Hanover; fast travelling brought them there 

in less than five days. But George, who was heir to the 
crown, did not hasten to take up the great inheritance 
that had fallen to him. He was not voung, and he was 



A. D. 1 7 14 George I. 11 

never an impulsive man. The weight of his fifty-four 
years and the natural slowness of his German character 
co-operated perhaps with a certain measure of policy 
that dictated looking before leaping. The new King 
took time to consider how he should act with respect to 
English ministers and English parties before plunging 
into their midst. Meanwhile in his name all steps were 
being taken to ensure a quiet accession, and the hopes 
and fears which the anticipation of the Queen's death 
had excited were alike calmed. A Jacobite bishop 
offered in his lawn sleeves to proclaim King James III. 
at Charing Cross, and when his friends refused to act 
with him declared that the finest possible opportunity 
had been lost for want of spirit. 

George I., whom circumstances and the Act of Settle- 
ment had thus called to be King of Great Britain and 
Ireland, had been a sovereign prince for six- 

j • 1 • -L • 1 1 -I i_ His father. 

teen years, dunng which time he had been 
Elector of Brunswick-Liineburg. He was the second 
who ever bore that title. By right of his father he was 
Elector ; it was by right of his mother that he now 
became ruler of the United Kingdom. The father was 
Ernest Augustus, Sovereign Bishop of Osnaburg, who, 
by the death of his elder brothers, had become Duke of 
Hanover, and then Duke of Brunswick and Liineburg. 
In 1692 he was raised by the Emperor to the dignity of 
Elector. The other Electors were indignant at the Em- 
peror's claim in such arbitrary manner to add to their 
number, and for nearly sixteen years, during which 
period one election to the empire had taken place, the 
Electors refused any recognition of the new voice. Then 
they yielded. Whether the Emperor acted strictly legally 
is disputed amongst those who are learned in that intri- 
cate subject the law of the Holy Roman Empire, but 



12 The Early Hanoveriajis. A.D. 17 14 

that he acted in accordance with sound motives of pol- 
icy admits of no dispute, Lewis XIV. was dangerous to 
Europe, and the grand alhance against him wanted all 
the help that could be obtained. It was feared that 
Hanover was wavering and that her troops might be on 
the side of France. The promotion of the Duke to be 
Elector was the price paid to keep Hanover upon the 
right side. Doubtless King William III., the very soul 
of the earlier Grand Alliance, approved of the price paid, 
though at that time so many stood nearer in the English 
succession than the princes of the House of Hanover that 
there seemed no probability that the electorate would 
prove for that family only a step to the higher dignity — 
the throne of England. 

The mother of George I. was Sophia, usually known 

as the Electress Sophia. The title was merely one of 

honour, and only meant wife of an Elector. 

His mother. ,_, . . . , 

This prmcess was twenty-seven when she 
married Ernest Augustus, afterwards first Elector of 
Brunswick-Luneburg, and she was as famous for her 
beauty and for her wit as he was for his courtly manner. 
The marriage took place a couple of years before the 
restoration of the Stuarts to England, and, amid the 
general joy with which that event was hailed in England, 
no notice was there taken of the birth of a little prince, 
great-grandson of one English king, son of the first 
cousin of the restored monarch. The Electress Sophia 
was the daughter of Elizabeth, daughter of King James 
I., and Frederick, the Elector Palatine. 

The Princess Elizabeth was one of the most beautiful 

of women. She inspired enthusiasm in the 
Elizabeth of brcasts of English poets and of German prin- 

Bohemia. o i i 

ces. Witness the beautiful and well-known 
verses by Sir Henry Wotton 'to Elizabeth of Bohemia'; 



A. D. 1714 George I. 13 

witness the enthusiasm with which, wearing her glove, 
Christian of Brunswick, in the spirit of a crusading 
knight, engaged in that most unchivalrous of wars called, 
from its weary length, the Thirty Years' War, in which 
he won for himself the title ' God's friend and parsons' 
foe.' 

Her husband Frederick, the Elector Palatine, was 
elected by the Protestants of Bohemia to be their king. 
The House of Austria claimed that the right 
of election was merely nominal, and that the "J^^^ ^l"S °^ 

■' bohemia. 

Bohemians were bound, as of course, to elect 
the head of that House. This they probably would have 
done had he not been a prominent Roman Catholic prince, 
suspected of intending a policy of persecution in his her- 
editary dominions and in Bohemia if he gained it, as well 
as in his position of Emperor, to which he was now elected. 
Frederick on election went to Prague, but his reign in 
Bohemia was very short. He is known in history as the 
Winter King, because one winter was the duration of his 
reign. In the battle of the White Mountain, outside his 
capital, Prague, the Austrians defeated him. They drove 
him not only from the kingdom of Bohemia, but from 
his electorate also, and gave the Palatinate to a staunch 
adherent of the Emperor's cause, the Duke of Bavaria. 
This may be described as the first act in that terrible re- 
ligious war — the Thirty Years' War. The animosity felt 
throughout Germany between the Roman Catholics and 
the Protestants had prepared the train for an explosion : 
this dispute in Bohemia fired it. Whilst the war con- 
tinued, Frederick, with his beautiful queen Elizabeth, 
remained landless and homeless ; but at the peace of 
Westphalia, which closed it, he v/as not forgotten. In 
the spirit of conciliation and compromise that then pre- 
vailed, it was felt that the electorate could not be taken 



14 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1714 

from Bavaria. It was decided, therefore, that part of the 
Palatinate should be restored to Frederick and an eighth 
electorate created. Forty-four years later a ninth elec- 
torate was established in favour of his son-in-law, the 
Duke of Hanover. 

During almost the whole of Queen Anne's reign, the 
Electress Sophia was her legal heir. Naturally she took 
^ , , the keenest interest in English politics, and is 

Death of . 

Electress said to have declared that she would die hap- 

py if she could know that ' Queen of England ' 
would be engraven on her coffin. Two months, however, 
before the English throne became vacant the Princess 
Sophia was taking exercise in the trim gardens of Herren- 
hausen. Agitated, it is said, by a letter which she had 
just received from Queen Anne, resenting the proposal 
that Prince George, the electoral prince, should go to 
England, she was walking too quickly, and fell down 
dead of heart disease. 

The new royal house in England is sometimes called 
the House of Hanover, sometimes the House of Bruns- 
wick. It will be found that the latter name is 
BmnsVick. more generally used in histories written dur- 
ing the last century, the former in books writ- 
ten in the present day. If the names were equally appli- 
cable, the modern use is the more convenient, because 
there is another, and in some respects well known, branch 
of the House of Brunswick; but no other has a right to 
the name of Hanover. It is, however, quite certain that, 
whatever the English use may be, Hanover is properly 
the name of a town and of a duchy, but that the electorate 
was Brunswick-Liineburg. During the last few weeks of 
Queen Anne's reign the heir was prayed for in the Liturgy 
of the Church of England as 'the Duke of Brunswick,* 
a petition substituted for that for the ' Princess Sophia.' 



A. D. 1 7 14 George I. 15 

The House of Brunswick was of noble origin, tracing 
itself back to a certain Guelph d'Este, nicknamed 'the 
Robust,' son of an Italian nobleman, who 
had been seeking his fortunes in Germany. 
Guelph married Judith, widow of the English King, Har- 
old, who fell on the hill of Senlac, pierced in the eye, when 
the English were routed in the battle of Hastings. One of 
Guelph's descendants, later, married Maud, the daughter 
of King Henry II., probably the most powerful king in 
Europe of his day, at whose persuasion the Emperor 
conferred on the Guelphs the duchy of Brunswick. The 
son of this marriage became, for a short period. Emperor 
at a time when the Guelphs gained the upper hand in 
Germany ; and fourteenth in descent from this same mar- 
riage is Ernest Augustus, first Elector of Brunswick-Liine- 
burg. More than once the territories of the House of 
Brunswick were divided, and sometimes into several frag- 
ments, but by failure of heirs the parts were reunited. 
The story is told that the grandfather of Ernest Augustus, 
by name Duke William the Pious, had seven sons, who, 
seeing that if the territories were subdivided their influence 
would vanish, agreed that one only of them should marry, 
and that the dice selected his son George. He, in turn, 
had four sons, who divided their territories, though they 
made a compact somewhat similar to that of the pre- 
vious generation. The whole was joined together once 
more under the youngest brother, Ernest Augustus. 

Ernest Augustus, the first Elector, was nineteen at the 
date when the peace of Westphalia put an end to the Thirty 
Years' War, and fifty-nine when William of 
Orange landed at Torbay. A Scotch gen- ofTh"^*^^^" 
tleman, much given to travelling, who was Court of 

° t"' Hanover. 

English consul at Amsterdam, and who pub- 
lished in that city in the year of the English Revolution 



l6 The Ea7iy Hanoveriaiis. A. D. 17 14 

(1688) an account of his travels, gives us some insight 
into the Court of Hanover. ' Here,' he says, ' I had the 
honour to kiss the hands of the Princess Royal, Sophia, 
youngest sister to the late Prince Rupert. Pier Highness 
has ,the character of the Merry Debonaire, Princess of 
Germany, a lady of extraordinary virtue and accomplish- 
ments : she is mistress of the Italian, French, High and 
Low Dutch, and English languages, which she speaks to 
perfection. Her husband has the title of the Gentleman 
of Germany, a graceful and comely prince, both on foot 
and oh horseback, civil to strangers beyond compare, 
infinitely kind and beneficent to people in distress, and 
known in the world for a valiant and experienced 
soldier. I had the honour to see his troops, which, with- 
out controversy, are as good men, and commanded by 
as expert officers, as any are in Europe. . . . God hath 
blest the prince with a numerous offspring, having six 
sons — all gallant princes — of whom the two eldest sig- 
nalised themselves so bravely at the raising of the siege 
of Vienna that as an undoubted proof of their valour 
they brought three Turks home to this court prisoners. 
. . . Pie is a gracious prince to his people, and keeps a 
very splendid court, having in his stables, for the use of 
himself and children, fifty-two sets of coach-horses. He 
himself is Lutheran, but as his subjects are Christians of 
different persuasions — nay, and some of them are Jews 
too — so both in his court and army he entertains gentle- 
men of various opinions and countries, as Italian abbots 
and gentlemen that serve him, and many Calvinist 
French officers ; neither is he so bigoted in his religion 
but that he and his children go many times to church 
with the Princess, who is a Calvinist, and join with her 
in her devotion. His country is good, having gold and 
silver mines in it, and his subjects live well under him.' 



A.D. 1 7 14 George I. 17 

Mr. Consul Ker, when he penned these remarks, did 
not think that some twenty-six years later he would him- 
self be in Hanover, congratulating the Duke of that place, 
then an Elector, on his accession to the crown of the 
United Kingdom. The portrait of Ernest Augustus can 
be seen in contemporary prints, looking majestic and 
dignified, with a very formidable wig and anything but a 
mild expression of countenance. The Elector died ten 
years after Mr. Ker published this account, and was suc- 
ceeded in 1698 by his son, George Lewis, afterwards 
George I. of England. There was no division of territories 
between the six ' gallant princes,' because Ernest Augus- 
tus, seeing that his newly-won electoral dignity must be 
suitably maintained, had established the right of primo- 
geniture. In the language of an old writer, a councillor 
of Hanover, he ' gave a remarkable proof of his superior 
judgment, as well as of his concern for the welfare of his 
family, by effectually putting a stop to the pernicious cus- 
tom that had hitherto prevailed in his house of dividing 
and cantling out the dominions belonging to it.' 

At the death of Queen Anne, King George was fifty-four 
years of age, and had been Elector sixteen years. His 
son, afterwards King George II., was nearly 
thirty-one. His grandson Frederick, who and^Queeif^ 
died as Prince of Wales, the father of George Anne. 
III., and great-grandfather of Queen Victoria, was then 
within ten days of seven. The new King was five years 
older than the Queen who had just died. It is a fact not 
generally known that he had once been a suitor for her 
hand. In the winter of 1680 he paid a visit to England, 
an account of which he wrote to his mother in Germany. 
' I saw the Princess of York (the Lady Anne), and I 
saluted her by kissing her, with the consent of the King' 
(Charles II.) Notwithstanding this salute, he was not 

C 



1 8 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 17 14 

very cordially received by his English cousins, nor did 
the Lady Anne, not yet sixteen, look with favour on his 
suit. During his stay he received an honorary doctor's 
degree from the University of Cambridge, but he was 
soon recalled by a letter from his father, who for family 
reasons wished him to marry a cousin nearer home. 
Two and a half years after his departure the Lady Anne 
married Prince George of Denmark, and was very fond 
of her dull husband, who died some six years before her. 



A.D. 1714 



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CHAPTER III. 

THE ELECTORATE. 

It may be as well to give here some account of the size 
and importance of King George's continental dominions. 
It has always been the custom to speak con- 
The Electo- temptuously of them, as if they gave no addi- 
tion to the strength of England, but were in 
every way an incumbrance. Assertions to this effect are 
constantly made, but it is difficult to find any accurate 
estimate of the size of the electorate. Neither contem- 
porary nor recent historians furnish facts. There are 
various points of view from which the comparison can be 
made — area, population, army, revenue. 

With respect to area it would seem as if King George's 
continental dominions amounted to between one-fourth 
and one-fifth of the area of England and 
Wales. The electorate was smaller than 
Scotland, much larger than Wales. If we compare it 
with the United Kingdom, then, as the area of Scotland 
and Ireland together is about equal to that of England 
and Wales, we may say that it was one-ninth — in itself 
no despicable territorial addition. 

It is always difficult to discover the population of a 

country in the days before it was usual to take a census. 

The population of England at the accession of King 

George I. is variously estimated between five 

opu a ion. ^^^ seven millions. It is still more difficult 

to guess the population of the electorate. Mr. Consul Ker 



A.D. 1 7 14 The Electorate. 21 

took some trouble to obtain information about the chief 
towns a few years earher. He gives the number of 
the houses ' as they were given to me not only from the 
surveyors and city carpenters, but from the Books of the 
Hearth Money, and the Books of the Verpounding, where 
such taxes are paid.' 

The capital is not at the head of the list. The three 
largest towns, as given by Mr. Consul Ker, are : — 

Houses. 

Lunenburgh . . .. . . 3,100 

Osnaburgh ..... 2,200 

Hanover 1,850 

Now Osnaburgh was not, strictly speaking, in Hanover 
at all, as the map will show. It was the capital of the 
Bishopric of Osnaburgh, which, by a curious arrange- 
ment of the Treaty of Westphalia, was to be governed 
alternately by a Roman Catholic and Protestant Bishop. 

In 1688, the year when these facts were collected, a 
Protestant ruled ; then, from 1692 to 17 16, a Catholic, who 
was succeeded by Augustus, brother of George L, who 
died in 1728. Nor was it until 1803 that Osnabriick, as it 
ought to be called, was secularised and embodied in Han- 
over. We have, therefore, only two towns in the electo- 
rate of any considerable size. Next to these were Stade, 
Verden, Zell, Clausthal, and Gottingen, where at a later 
date George I. founded a famous university. The Bi.shop- 
ric of Bremen contained no very large town, for the 
city of Bremen was an independent Free Town and did 
not go with the Bishopric ; but Stade, from its neighbour- 
hood to the mouth of the Elbe, was of considerable 
importance. Harburg also, near Hamburg, was a centre 
of trade, and there was in the south the very ancient 
town of Hamlin, but its population was not large. 



22 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1 714 

In the mining districts no doubt the numbers to the 
square mile would be large, but elsewhere, with few towns 
and not many villages and an agricultural population, 
it cannot have been great. The largest town, Lunen- 
burgh, would be a little more than half the size of Bristol. 
The estimate hardly rises above guesswork, but we may 
infer that the whole population of the electorate did not 
exceed half a million, less than one-tenth of the popula- 
tion of England and Wales, less than the population of 
London, which had, however, already began to be dis- 
proportionate in its growth. 

The army of the electorate was very large in proportion 
to the population. Again we have a statement made by 
Mr. Consul Ker. We find that ' the Houses 
of Wolfenbiittel and Liineburg kept on foot 
in the years 1683-4 an army of 18,000 foot and 9,000 
horse, whereof Ernest Augustus at his own expense enter- 
tained 10,000 foot and 5,000 horse in his dominions. 
These he considerably augmented afterwards.' In this 
respect the electorate comes nearest to the United King- 
dom. The peace footing of the English army after the 
peace of Utrecht was fixed at 8,000 men in Great Britain 
and 11,000 more in the plantations (i.e. colonies) and 
abroad. There were still in England a strong dislike of a 
standing army, such as was not felt, or at any rate not ex- 
pressed, on the continent. In proportion to the size and 
importance of states, the armies of continental powers have 
always been much in excess of the English army, chiefly for 
the reason that England's first line of defence is the navy. 

But, according to the old proverb, money is the sinews 

of war, and we may ask, ' How did the two stand as 

regards revenue ? ' In a speech delivered 

Revenue 

in the House of Lords in January 1739 Lord 
Chesterfield spoke with bitter irony of England, ' so hap- 



A. D. 1 7 14 The Electorate. 23 

pily annexed to his Majesty's German dominions,' and 
made this statement about the national resources : ' The 
whole revenues of the electorate at the time of his late 
Majesty's accession to the throne of these realms did not 
amount to more than 300,000/. a year.' The annual 
revenue of England at the same time (17 14) was under 5 
millions. A year or two before it had reached the figure 
of 53^ millions. The expenditure on the debt alone took 
more than half the revenue. Even then, it may be seen, 
England was richer than her neighbours. At the union 
with Scotland the share of the latter in the land-tax was 
fixed at one-fortieth. 

To sum up, therefore, the electorate stood to the United 
Kingdom in the following proportions. As far as area 
was concerned, about one-ninth ; in popula- 
tion, about one-twelfth ; in military strength, ^^^ propor- 
much nearer an equality to the English army 
on its peace footing, and not counting the navy; in 
national revenue, about one-twentieth. The wealth of 
the two nations may perhaps have borne the same pro- 
portion as the revenue. England was already rising to 
prominence as a trading community, and London was 
certainly the chief commercial city of the v^^orld. No 
doubt the Hanoverians when they saw London first 
thought what the Prussian general, Bliicher, is r-eported 
to have expressed a century later — ' What plunder !' 

It was a wealthy inheritance that George, Elector of 
Brunswick-Liineburg, was about to take up. 

The union with Hanover was always unpopular in 
England, more unpopular even than the first two sove- 
reigns themselves, who, although not of a 
character to win their subjects' love, yet rep- Union un- 

■' ■' '- popular. 

resented a principle. ' If you wish the Pre- 
tender never to be King of England,' said a witty lord, 



24 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 17 14 

' have him made Elector of Hanover. It is quite certain the 
Enghsh people will never take another king from there.' 
The belief was general that poor Germans had come to 
plunder the richer English. This belief is expressed in 
the humorous story of the Hanoverian Court lady whose 
carriage was mobbed in London. Putting her head out 
of the carriage window, she said, in broken English, 
' Peace, good people ; are we not come for all of your 
goods ? ' meaning ' for the good of all of you,' * Yes,' 
promptly replied one in the mob, ' and for our chattels 
too.' The same thought is involved in Lord Chester- 
field's complaint, when, after estimating the paltry reve- 
nue of the electorate, he adds, 'And yet, soon afterwards, 
the considerable purchases of Bremen and Verden 
were made for above 500,000/. sterling. ... At least a 
million sterling has been laid out over and above in new 
acquisitions.' It may be asked why English ministers 
acquiesced in these purchases with English money ; and 
answer must be made that they looked upon the electo- 
rate and the United Kingdom as permanently joined, so 
that additions to the one were acquisitions for the whole. 
During our Hanoverian period there is a constant com- 
plaint that England is steered by a Hanoverian rudder, 
just as in William Ill.'s reign the charge was that our 
rudder was Dutch. William used England gladly to 
forward projects dear to his heart, but they were projects 
for the good of Europe, and not only of Holland. The 
policy of the first two Georges cannot be described as 
European. There is no doubt that they preferred their 
continental home to their English kingdom, that they 
always left the latter with pleasure and returned to it with 
regret, and that they favoured Hanoverians. Many Eng- 
lishmen disliked this strongly, but felt that it was not an 
unreasonable price to pay for the exclusion of the Stuarts. 



A. D. 1 7 14 The Electorate. 25 

It is, however, a little curious that relief was not sought 
in a method suggested by Sir Robert Walpole shortly 
before his fall. ' One day,' reports Speaker Onslow, ' he 
took me aside and said, "What will you say. Speaker, 
if this hand of mine shall bring a message from the 
King to the House of Commons declaring his 
consent to having any of his family after his Proposed 

^ ■> ■' separation. 

own death to be made by Act of Parliament 
incapable of inheriting and enjoying the crown and pos- 
sessing the electoral dominions at the same time ?" My 
answer was, " Sir, it will be as a message from^ Heaven." ' 
The message, however, never came. 

Exactly a century after the accession of King George I. 
the electorate, which, with the fall of the Holy Roman 
Empire in 1806, had ceased to be an electo- 
rate, was at the Congress of Vienna con- Later 

_ *=' history. 

verted into the kingdom of Hanover. Then 
for the first time Hanover, properly only the name of the 
city, though often popularly used for the electorate of 
Brunswick-Liineburg, became the name of the state. On 
the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 the long-desired 
separation took place, because the Salic law prevented 
the kingdom of Hanover passing into female hands. 
The wisdom of Walpole' s suggestion in the previous 
century has been shown by the avoidance of the very 
serious complications that would have arisen in 1866 if 
Hanover and England had possessed the same ruler. 
In that year Hanover took the side of Austria against 
Prussia, and the latter, victorious in the Seven Weeks' 
War, absorbed all the powers of North Germany that were 
opposed to her. Had England then been united with 
Hanover, the war would have attained much larger pro- 
portions, and must have been much more serious. The 
union of Germany might have been indefinitely retarded. 



26 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 17 14 

It would be invidious to make comparisons between 
the culture and civilisation of Hanover and England ; 
but it is pleasant to call to mind the names and careers of 
their greatest men. A story runs that once George I. 
was complimented on having two such possessions as 
England and his electorate, and that he re- 
Newton and phed that he considered it a far greater hon- 

Leibnitz. ^ , , ° 

our to have amongst his subjects tv/o such 
men as Sir Isaac Newton and Leibnitz. Whether this 
story be true or not, certainly of all the subjects in his con- 
tinental dominions none was so famous as the latter phi- 
losopher, some little account of whom may be of interest. 
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz was born in 1646 at Leipzig, 
where his father was a university professor. When he 
was only six he lost his father, inheriting 
from him a large library of books, which he 
eagerly read. As a boy he learnt many things, and as a 
young man studied in turn at three different universities. 
Classics, philosophy, mathematics, and law all claimed 
his attention ; nor did he even disdain to concern himself 
with alchemy. In childhood a boy prodigy, throughout 
life Leibnitz was regarded as a kind of universal genius. 
He wrote on philosophical questions, on theological, on 
legal, and historical. On one occasion George I. called 
him a living dictionary. When Leibnitz was about thirty 
he was invited by the Duke of Brunswick-Liineburg, 
whose successors afterwards became electors, to take up 
his residence at the Court of Hanover, where he was 
treated with great kindness and most highly valued, 
especially by the Electress Sophia. The original design 
was that Leibnitz should write the history of the House 
of Brunswick. It reads like a satire on German thor- 
oughness to hear that the preparations which Leibnitz 
thought necessary for so important a work carried him 



A. D. 1 7 14 First Measures. 27 

back as a preliminary to a study of geology, so as to 
know the state of the world before the creation. Prob- 
ably his most famous book is his ' Theodicea ' — a treatise 
on theology and philosophy — written to 'justify the ways 
of God to man.' In his later years Leibnitz had an un- 
fortunate controversy with Newton, each claiming to have 
first discovered the doctrine of the differential calculus. 
The truth was that both had made the same discovery in- 
dependently and nearly simultaneously. Some two years 
after the succession of King George to the throne Leibnitz 
died. He had been suffering badly from the gout, and pos- 
sessing some knowledge of medicine — of what subject, in- 
deed, did he not know something ? — he treated himself ^j 
with a new remedy, and the cure proved fatal to him I ' 
within the space of an hour. 



CHAPTER IV. 

FIRST MEASURES. 

Just seven weeks after the death of Queen Anne, King 
George landed at Greenwich. It was on a Sunday even- 
ing, and there was a large concourse to 
welcome the new King, including the Arch- Arrival of 

° ° (jreorge 1. 

bishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Marl- 
borough, and all the more prominent peers of both 
parties. The King, however, made a marked distinction 
in the way in which he received them. To the Whigs 
he was very gracious, on the Tories he turned his back. 
From this time forward it became quite evident that all 
his support would be given to the former party. A few 
days before the King's arrival he had sent orders that 
Bolingbroke should be deprived of office, and the orders 
had been earned out almost with rudeness, certainly 



28 The Early Hanoverians. A.D, 17 14 

without the respect that should have been shown to the 
fallen statesman. This is Bolingbroke's own comment 
on his treatment : ' To be removed was neither matter 
of surprise nor of concern to me, but the manner of my 
removal shocked me for at least two minutes. I am not 
in the least intimidated from any consideration of the 
Whig malice and power, but the grief of my soul is this 
— I see plainly that the Tory party is gone.' The suc- 
cession of King George to the throne was a critical point 
in the history of party government. It is possible that, if 
King George had known how to hold the balance between 
the two parties, the system of government by a cabinet 
entirely drawn from one party might never have prevailed. 
The ablest man in his former dominions, though he 
had shown his ability in other matters rather than in 
politics, the philosopher Leibnitz, strongly 

Whigs only. , . , _ . . . 

advised George not to recognise parties m 
England, but to choose his ministers from Whigs or 
Tories indiscriminately; to choose the best man for each 
particular office irrespective of his political views. Other 
counsels, however, prevailed ; and the behaviour of the 
King on his landing, his turning his back upon the Tory 
peers, and refusal even to be civil to them, were merely 
external signs that the Tories were to be excluded from 
office. The sympathies of the first two Georges were 
entirely with the Whigs. The third George made an 
attempt to be rid of party domination ; an attempt which 
proved unsuccessful and, it may almost be said, disastrous. 
George I. was not a remarkably intelligent man, but 
he knew perfectly clearly the limits of his power. It 
seems strange that he should have been 
ranc^ of^"°' allowcd to grow up entirely ignorant of the 
English. English language, especially when we con- 

sider that his mother was an accomplished linguist. But 



A.D. 1 7 14 First Measures. 29 

not until the death of Queen Anne's son, the young 
Duke of Gloucester, did there seem to be any prospect 
that the Enghsh throne would pass to the House of Han- 
over ; and when the Duke of Gloucester died George 
was well over forty, and at that age most men do not 
take kindly to grammars and exercise books. In conse- 
quence of King George's ignorance of English it was 
futile for him to preside at meetings of the Cabinet, and 
exceedingly difficult for him to understand the character 
of bills to be proposed or measures to be taken. The 
result was that the position of the Sovereign was changed, 
and, according to the French epigram, henceforth the 
English King was a constitutional king who reigns, but 
does not govern. 

As King George could not hold the balance between 
the two parties he leant wholly to one, and from this time 
forward government by one party at a time 
became the rule in English politics. In the Constitu- 

"^ ^ tional king. 

reign of William III. and Anne there had 
been an approximation to this state of things, but the 
change was now complete. In one department only of 
public affairs did the King still keep and exercise influ- 
ence — the relations with foreign governments. In the 
foreign policy of the nation King George had a consider- 
able and not in all respects a salutary power. Naturally, 
but unfortunately, England became involved in quarrels 
which concerned Hanover rather than England. 

This was shown in a matter that took place very shortly 
after the beginning of the reign. Bremen and Verden are 
two districts upon the river Weser, lying be- 
tween Hanover and the sea. They had been Bremen and 

•' Verden. 

independent bishoprics, but at the end of the 

Thirty Years' War had fallen to Sweden as part of her 

share of the spoils. For over sixty years they continued 



30 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 17 14 

outlying possessions of Sweden ; at the end of that time 
they had been conquered by Denmark, whilst Charles 
XII. King of Sweden, defeated by Russia at the battle 
of Pultowa, remained in voluntary exile in Turkey. 
The King of Denmark offered to sell them to George 
for the sum of 150,000/., on condition that Hanover 
v/ould join Denmark against Sweden. The purchase 
was made, no one thinking of taking into account the 
feelings of the unfortunate inhabitants, who, as Germans, 
would very likely have preferred Hanover ; and an 
English fleet was sent into the Baltic, but luckily never 
came to fighting. Nevertheless it was evident that 
England was risking the chance of a war with Sweden 
for the sake of Hanover ; and there was little reason 
for wonder when Charles XII., having in a manner 
worthy of a hero of romance returned from Turkey, 
declared that he would help the Pretender. 

According to old English law the death of a king or 
queen involved the dissolution of Parliament. The law- 
yers argued that the reigning Sovereign was 
In Parlia- ^j^g head of the Parliament, and the head 

ment. 

failing, the whole body was extinct. But 
shortly before the accession of George I., in the reigns 
of William III. and of Anne, the fear of a dispute as 
to the succession was so strong that practical needs 
overcame the arguments of the lawyers, and new stat- 
utes were passed, allowing the Parliament in being to 
continue for a period of six months after the death of 
the Sovereign. On the very day that Queen Anne died, 
albeit a Sunday, Parliament met. The members took 
the oaths to King George, and proceeded to vote duti- 
ful addresses. The civil list, or income allowed to the 
Sovereign, was fixed at 700,000/. — the same amount as 
under Queen Anne — though the Tories, anxious to win 



A. D. 17 14 First Measures. 31 

the favour of the new King, wished to raise the amount 
to a milhon. There chanced to be some arrears of pay- 
due to the Hanoverian troops. Whenj«in 1712 the Enghsh 
troops under the Duke of Ormond had been withdrawn 
from the army of the grand alhes, the Hanoverian troops 
in Enghsh pay refused to obey orders, counting the with- 
drawal as a desertion in the face of the enemy. A great 
dispute arose as to their pay. The Tories, who wished the 
war closed and admired the withdrawal of the English 
troops, had voted resolutely against the payment of the 
Hanoverians. The Whigs, who were all for Marlborough 
and the war, admired the conduct of the Hanoverians, 
and wished to pay them. But circumstances alter cases, 
and, the ruler of Hanover having become King of Eng- 
land, the motion to pay the troops was carried without 
opposition. A reward of no less than 100,000/. was 
offered to anyone who should seize the Pretender in case 
of his landing. The Parliament was then prorogued. 

After the King's arrival, and within the six months 
allowed by the law, the Parliament was dissolved by 
proclamation, and a new Parliam.ent called. 
In the proclamation by which the new Par- General 

^ ■' election. 

liament was summoned, the ministers most 
improperly invited the electors in their choice of candidates 
' to have a particular regard to such as showed a firmness 
to the Protestant succession when it was in danger.' The 
result of the general election was a large Whig majority, 
and during the remainder of this reign and through all 
the next the Whigs had exclusive possession of power. 

With a new reign and a new House of Commons, it 
would have been wise to have made a fresh 
start ; but the Whig ministers were unwilling Tory "mfnis" 
to forego an opportunity for revenge. At the ^^^^" 
beginning of the first session a committee of the House of 



32 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 17 14 

Commons was appointed to consider all the circumstances 
relating to the treaty of Utrecht. This committee did 
its work elaborately, for the reading of its report 
occupied five hours, and on conclusion of the reading 
it was determined that Bolingbroke and Oxford should 
be impeached for their share m the treaty, A few days 
later it was likewise determined to impeach the Duke 
of Ormond, the general who had withdrawn the troops 
from the allied army. Impeachnient means prosecution 
by the House of Commons before the House of Lords. 
Bolingbroke had apparently gauged the temper of the 
House, for he fled the country even before the report 
of the committeewas made., .The..Duke of Ormond fled 
also, but Robert Harley, Eah of Oxford, the late Prime 
Minister, stood his ground, and was committed to the 
Tower. The story goes that Ormond before flying urged 
Oxford also to escape, and being unable to persuade 
him took his leave with the words, ' Farewell, Oxford 
without a head,' to which the reply came at once, ' Fare- 
well, Duke without a duchy.' Oxford preserved his head, 
but Ormond lost his duchy, for the trial of the former 
before his peers was delayed over a space of two years, 
during which the Jacobite rising was entirely suppressed 
and a change in the direction of clemency had come 
over the minds of the ministers. At the end of the two 
years the charges were dropped and Oxford released. 

Against Bolingbroke and Ormond in their absence 
bills of attainder were passed. 

These proceedings were highly impolitic, if, indeed, they 

were not absolutely unjust. The treaty of Utrecht was 

made because the English people were tired 

Not wise. ^11 

of the war with France. The manner of 
bringing about the treaty was in the highest degree 
unsatisfactory : the treatment of the allies was dishonour- 



A. D. 17 1 5 The Fifteen. 33 

able. The Duke of Ormond, when appointed to succeed 
Marlboroug-h as Commander-in-Chief, received definite 
orders, known as the 'restraining orders,' by which he 
still appeared to be fighting on the side of the allies 
whilst in reality he was to carry on no operations against 
the French. But Ormond as a soldier had to obey 
orders ; and the conduct of the two ministers, Harley 
and Bolingbroke, ho\Y.ftv-€r =tJf?gT^Ceful, had been known 
to and approved b^,'tW) 4j^inCt Parlia/iimt§. These con- 
siderations shou^' have saved them from OTosecution : 
but the violence of the Whigs helped to drivg\\:he Tories 
into more violen\ opjposition. Bolingbroke^/jl believed, 
was quite willing B<^l|j^^gones be byg^^H^r and would 
have accepted office^^Se^t^fc^lClfe^^e. ''W twelve 

months of his accession he received the seals as Secre- 
tary of State to the Pretender, joining himself to the mock 
court which the latter maintained at Paris. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE FIFTEEN, 



There can be little doubt that the confirmed Jacobites 
were ready, at any time after the death of Queen Anne, 
to make an attempt to restore the Stuarts. 
What may be doubted is whether their num- restore^ the° 
bers were sufficient to justify such an attempt Stuarts. 
by giving it any chance of success. During the first year 
of the new King's reign his decided and manifest inclina- 
tion towards the Whig party and the vindictive treatment 
of the Tory leaders had, by swelling the ranks of the dis- 
contented, given the attempt a much better, and indeed 
its only, chance. From the date of the revolution, known, 

from its bloodless character, as the Glorious Revolution, to 

D 



34 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 171 5 

the time when the hopes of the Jacobites were crushed 
in the defeat of Culloden, and by the cruel punishment 
which followed it — a period of fifty-eight years — constant 
were the efforts made to restore the exiled family. Such 
efforts may be classed under two heads. For the first 
twenty-five years of this period England was for the 
most part at war with France, and the hope of the 
Jacobites lay in the defeat of their country. At the begin- 
ning of the first war, which lacks a recognised name, but 
may be known as the War of the First Grand Alliance, 
Ireland held out vigorously for James II. until the battle 
of the Boyne and the pacification of Limerick destroyed 
his power there. The Highlands of Scotland held out 
under the heroic Dundee until the victory of Killiecrankie 
proved through his death worse than a defeat. The re- 
mainder of that war was a sort of drawn combat. Though 
William often lost battles his antagonists gained little by 
their victories. In the second war, the War of the 
Spanish Succession, which Lewis' recognition of James' 
son as King of England contributed no little to bring 
about, the military genius and splendid successes of 
Marlborough gave no hope for final victory to France or 
restoration by the French of the Stuart dynasty. When 
the treaty of Utrecht closed that war James, the old Pre- 
tender, had to retire from France and take refuge in 
Lorraine. Baffled in the hope of help from abroad, 
more attention was given to rebellion at home. Once 
in Queen Anne's reign, when the unpopularity of the 
Union still made the Scotchmen sore, an attempt was 
made, which failed, first, because, when his adherents 
were ready, the Pretender, then nearly twenty, had the 
measles ; when he had recovered from the measles, 
and came to Scotland, the adherents on shore were not 
ready. But after all Anne was a Stuart, half-sister of 



A. D. 171 5 The Fifteen. 35 

the Pretender ; whilst her successor, though great-grand- 
son of a Stuart king, can hardly be called a Stuart. 
Stronger attempts, therefore, might fairly be expected. 
In this volume accounts of two will be found, neither 
of them despicable, either of which with a little more 
effort, a little more well-directed energy, might have suc- 
ceeded. They are called after their dates — the Fifteen 
and the Forty-five. The Fifteen was the rising of the 
old Pretender, James Francis Edward, against George I. ; 
the Forty-five was the rising of his son, Charles Edward, 
the young Pretender, against George II. It will be shown 
that the latter was the more formidable of the two. 

Bolingbroke, after his flight from England, had been 
made chief adviser of him whom his friends called James 
III., his enemies the Pretender, and whom 
those who were neither called by the neutral 
name of the Chevalier de St. George. Bolingbroke knew 
a good deal about the discontent in England, and believed 
that with a French force of moderate strength as a 
nucleus a rising might be made simultaneously in Scot- 
land and in several parts of England. By representa- 
tions made to King Lewis XIV., he very nearly succeeded 
in bringing about a war between France and England. 
Bolingbroke himself afterwards declared that had Lewis 
lived such a war would have broken out within six 
months. But Lewis' life was an insecure foundation 
upon which to build, and his death destroyed any hopes 
of assistance from France. The Regent, his successor, 
was determined to be friendly with England. 

In the United Kingdom the head of the Jacobite party 
was John, Earl of Mar, a nobleman whose 
nickname, ' Bobbing John,' tells us his char- of^'a^^'^^ 
acter. He had changed his side several times, 
and if he could have obtained office from King George 



2jS The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 171 5 

would have remained, apparently at least, a loyal subject. 
But King George received the Earl with insult, and even 
turned his back upon him as he offered homage on the 
occasion of the King's landing. Mar, though once a 
Whig, had been manager for Scotland as Secretary of 
State in the time of Tory sway at the end of the late reign. 
Sore at the deprivation of office, he joined the Jacobites, 
by whom he was thought to have great weight in Scotland. 
But though a cunning politician, and skilled in intrigue, 
he was too selfish as well as too unskilful in matters of 
war to be the leader of a successful rebellion. 

One day he attended a levee held by King George ; 

next day he left London, in disguise, on board a collier 

bound for the north. Having reached his 

The rising. • a i i ^ ■ ^ • ^ • • ■ 

home m Aberdeenshire, he issued invitations 
to a great hunt. After a stirring speech from their inviter, 
those who were assembled took an oath of allegiance to 
Mar as general for King James. A few days later, on 
September 6, the standard was raised for the Chevalier. 
It was noticed as an evil omen that the gilt ball fell down 
from the top of the pole. The insurrection soon spread, 
almost all the Highlanders being for the descendant of 
their ancient kings. 

A great success nearly fell to the share of the rebels 
within the first three days. A plot had been set on foot 

by some friends of the cause in Edinburgh to 
Edinburgh seize Edinburgh Castle. A sergeant and two 

\_y3.S lIc. 

privates of the garrison were bribed or cajoled 
to admit Jacobite soldiers within, and a time was fixed for 
scaling the walls when one of these three would be the 
sentinel. The cause of failure should be told in the words 
of a contemporary, it being premised that for a conspir- 
acy to succeed secrecy and punctuality are absolutely 
necessary. ' They were so far from carrying on their 



A. D. 17 1 5 The Fifteen. 37 

affairs privately that a gentleman, who was not concerned, 
told me that he was in a house that evening where eighteen 
of them were drinking, and heard the hostess say that they 
were powdering their hair for an attack on the castle.' The 
result of the ' powdering ' was that the attacking party ar- 
rived too late : the sentinels were being changed, and news 
of the attempt had meanwhile been conveyed to the gar- 
rison through the sister-in-law of one of the conspirators. 
Bolingbroke had given his opinion that Scotland must 
not rise without England ; England would not rise with- 
out aid from France ; and aid from France 

England. 

was not at present to be expected. There 
can, however, be no doubt that the Earl of Mar expected, 
when he began the rebellion in Scotland, that risings 
would take place in England at the same time or follow 
very soon. This opinion was shared by the English 
ministers, who promptly arrested all noblemen, promi- 
nent men, and gentlemen, and sent soldiers to all towns 
suspected of being on the Jacobite side. This was the 
occasion when ' the King to Oxford sent a troop of horse.' 
In Bristol and in Plymouth arms were seized, and horses 
which the Jacobites had got ready ; active Jacobites 
were arrested. In November the Duke of Ormond, 
unwisely driven into exile, came across the 

-. - Ormond. 

Channel with a followmg of less than forty, 
expecting that James' friends would rally round him. He 
landed in Devonshire, but, finding no one to join him, 
was obliged to return. A little later the Duke started 
again, but this time he was driven back by a storm. 

But though Ormond's attempt at an insurrection in the 
west of England was thus defeated by the vigi- 
lance of the ministers, there was one part of ^°''!^^ °/ 

^ England. 

England, not at that time as influential as Ox- 
ford or Devonshire, though not far behind them in import- 



38 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 17 15 

ance — the north — in which the Jacobites had a much better 
chance. Their natural leader there was James Ratcliffe, 
Earl of Derwentwater, a young Roman Catholic noble- 
man, with large estates and great influence in the north. 
He was at this time only twenty-four, had been brought 
up in France, and had family sympathy with the Stuarts, 
for his mother was an illegitimate daughter of Charles II. 
Mr. Forster, member for Northumberland, and this young 
nobleman determined to raise their part of the country 
for James. They headed a small force — ' a handful of 
Northumberland foxhunters ' — as Sir Walter Scott calls 
it. Shoftly afterwards they were joined by some Scotch 
Jacobites from over the Border, and after a little hesita- 
tion marched down into Lancashire, Mr. Forster being 
elected general. The Bishop of Carlisle and the Lord- 
Lieutenant of Westmoreland tried resistance, called out 
the militia, but the militia were frightened at the insur- 
gents and ran away in a panic. Southwards the little 

Jacobite army marched as far as Preston, 
Battle of gathering numbers, if not strength, as they 

went ; but being shut into the town of Preston 
by the royal troops they were compelled ignominiously 
to surrender. It is even said that Mr. Forster, the gen- 
eral, when he heard of the approach of the royal troops 
had so little idea what to do th-at he went to bed ! 

On the same day as the surrender of Preston (it was 
Sunday, November 17) took place the battle of Dunblane, 

or Sheriffmuir. The Duke of Argyle was the 
SheriiFmuir general whom the ministers in London had 

chosen to command the king's men in Scot- 
land. It was a good choice. Head of one of the most 
powerful Scotch clans, the Campbells, and beheved to be 
true to the cause of King George, he was a good and ex- 
perienced general as well as an able statesman. The 



A. D. 17 1 5 The Fifteen. 39 

Duke, however, had not at first large forces at his disposal, 
and when the battle was fought the rebels were at least 
three to one. The smaller force amounted to about 3,300, 
of whom a third were cavalry ; but the smaller force was 
the better disciplined as well as the better commanded. 
On the previous night the Royalists occupied the town of 
Dunblane. The battle was fought on a moor to the east 
of the town, where the sheriff used to exercise his militia. 
Both sides were anxious to engage. Each commander- 
in-chief took the right wing of his own " army. On 
Argyle's right lay a m.orass, which usually could not be 
crossed ; as, however, there had been a recent hard frost, 
he ventured to send a squadron of horse over it, and thus 
outflanked the enemy. Although the Jacobites fought 
bravely, they were beaten back. Meanwhile, upon the 
other wing, Mar was meeting with a success like that of 
his opponent. A fierce charge of the Highlanders, mad- 
dened by the sight of the fall of a much-loved leader 
from the first fire of the Royalists, drove all before them. 
Target for defense and broadsword for slaughter soon 
did the work ; in a few minutes the Royalists on the 
left wing were routed. Never, perhaps, was a stranger 
battle : each right wing was triumphant, each left de- 
feated. It was said of the Duke of Argyle that he was 
not letting his left hand know what his right hand was 
doing. The truth was that his aide-de-camp was killed 
galloping across. When the victorious right wings found 
■that the success was theirs alone, they faced about and 
returned to the battle-field. Mar had larger numbers 
and the better position, but not having the courage to 
recognise this truth, nor to act upon it, he gave the order 
to retreat, one of his own followers exclaiming, ' Oh for 
one hour of Dundee ! ' The following lines are from a 
ballad written upon the battle : — 



40 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 171 5 

There's some say that we wan, 

Some say that they wan ; 
And some say that none wan at a', man ; 

There's but ae (one) thing, I'm sure. 

That at Sheriffmuir 
A battle there was that I saw, man : 

And we ran, and they ran. 

And they ran, and we ran. 

And we ran, and they ran awa', man. 

It is usual to call this a drawn battle, but the Royalists 
gained more than the Jacobites, They had fewer slain, 
fewer prisoners ; they took cannon and stand- 
Scotch ards, and on the day after the battle the 
rising Duke was upon the field ready to engage 
again. But the Highlanders were not ready, and soon 
melted away. In this campaign, as well as in the re- 
bellion of the Forty-five, it must be remembered that 
Highlanders are glorious soldiers to fight a battle with, 
but, until they come under the discipline of a regular 
army, the worst soldiers in the world for a whole cam- 
paign. Their undoubted bravery and their personal 
strength, as well, perhaps, as their quaint appearance and 
wild shouts, made them formidable fighters. But their 
jealousy of other clans, even if they had not bitter feuds 
with them, was certain to produce disunion, and, too 
proud to yield for the common good, the formidable 
Highland army would vanish away. In their onslaught 
they may be compared to a resistless snow storm in their 
own mountains ; but if their enemies could wait, the 
Highland clans became like the same snow under the 
genial influence of the midday sun. 

Whilst Mar was doing his ineffectual best to keep the 
Highlanders together, whilst many of those who re- 



A. D. 171 5 The Fifteen. 41 

mained were becoming anxious to treat, and the King's 

ministers, successful in stamping out rebellion 

in Eng-land, were in a position to send strong- ^3*,^ arrival 

° ' ^ ,° of James. 

reinforcements, including some Dutch regi- 
ments, to the north, the Chevalier landed. Mar's raising 
of the standard was on September 6 ; the Prince did not 
arrive until December 22. It was not his fault that he 
was late. He had hoped more from Ormond's attempt 
in the west of England, and when on its failure he 
wanted to sail to Scotland, English cruisers and con- 
trary weather had prevented him. But it certainly was 
a misfortune for his cause. Expecting to find a large 
Highland force, he found a small one. The spirit was 
gone out of the attempt, and he was not the man to bring 
it back again. All the princes of the House of Stuart 
from the time of James I. may be described as obstinate 
in action and unwise in selection of advisers ; but many 
of them were genial, witty, lively, and could inspire 
enthusiasm. This prince, however, was grave, even 
gloomy ; and his presence added nothing to the success 
of his cause. Bitterly disappointed, he had not the good 
sense to hide his disappointment, and on one occasion 
even shed tears. His speeches were full of complaints 
that he had been deceived. ' For him it was no new 
thing to be unfortunate, since his whole life, from his 
cradle, had been a constant series of misfortunes.' As 
the Royalists advanced, the Highlanders, much to their 
disgust, received orders to retreat, and James was in- 
duced by his own friends, after a sojourn in Scotland of 
little more than six weeks, to return to France. When 
their prince was gone the insurgents dispersed. Five 
months had not passed since the beginning of the 
insurrection. 

When the rebellion was over the rebels who were 



42 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 171 5 

prisoners were certainly treated with clemency. Seven 
„ . , peers were tried, were found or pleaded sruilty 

Punishment. ^ r i:> j 

of treason, and condemned to death ; but of 
these only two were beheaded, the Earl of Derwentwater 
being one. Thevast estates of the former were confiscated 
and bestowed on Greenwich hospital, a place for broken- 
down seamen, and the revenues of the Derwentwater 
estates are still used for pensions to sailors. Of the others 
three were pardoned and two escaped from the Tower, 
The story of the escape of one nobleman is romantic. 
His wife came to visit him, and he escaped in her clothes. 

Of the inferior offenders it may be noted that Mr. 
Forster escaped from prison. Of the soldiers twenty -two 
were hanged in Lancashire and four in London. Many 
of the others were transported to the colonies in America, 
and it is said that when the War of Independence broke 
out their descendants took the King's side ; so far were 
they, at least, from any feeling that after ' the Fifteen ' 
' the violence of the Whigs dyed the royal ermine with 
blood.' Probably unsuccessful rebels were never so 
leniently treated. 

After the suppression of the insurrection the attention of 

the Government was naturally turned to measures that 

would prevent the recurrence of a rising in 

Roads in the j-]-^g Highlands. The "best of all the measures 

Highlands. ^ 

was exceedingly simple — the providing good 
roads throughout the Highlands. The advantage of these 
excellent roads was that they enabled troops to be speedily 
conveyed from point to point upon the first news of a 
rising. Hitherto it had been almost impossible for any 
but trained mountaineers to travel, much less to travel 
quickly. But it will at once be evident that the roads 
would be used not only by troops : other good results fol- 
lowed, the promotion of trade and the spread of commer- 



A. D. 171 5 SeptejiJtial Act and Peerage Bill. 43 

cial intercourse. The roads were chiefly made by soldiers 
under the command of Marshal Wade. They gave rise 
to a famous couplet : 

If you had seen these roads before they were made 
You would hold up your hands and bless General Wade. 

This, however, is not to be regarded as a bull, for a road 
may be a road before it is a ' made ' road. 



CHAPTER VI. 

SEPTENNIAL ACT AND PEERAGE BILL. 

In the April of the year that followed ' the Fifteen ' the 
ministers brought in and carried a bill extending the dura- 
tion of Parliaments. Originally the sovereign 
could call and dissolve a Parliament at his Septennial 

Act 

pleasure. Thesurvivingmembersof the Long 
Parliament met in the year of the Restoration, twenty 
chequered years after their eventful election. Charles 11. 
kept one Parliament together for seventeen years. Such 
a power is evidently greatly in favour of the sovereign, 
who, by selecting a moment of popularity, might 
secure a Parliament to his liking, and keep it at a 
time when it would no longer represent the feeling of the 
nation. To prevent such a course the Triennial Bill 
was passed a few years after the accession of William 
and Mary, by which it was made compulsory that the 
House of Commons should be re-elected every three 
years. William's title was too insecure for him to resist 
even if he wished. But the Parliaments elected under 
the Triennial Act had not been especially good Parlia- 
ments, not less corrupt than others nor more zealous for 
popular rights ; and now, with a rebellion just quelled 



44 -The Ear/y Hanoverians. A.D. 171 5 

and with a sovereign personally unpopular, it was felt 

that there would be no little danger in holding a general 

election. The Septennial Bill, increasing the length of 

life of a Parliament to seven years, was brought in to the 

House of Lords, and carried through all its stages in both 

Houses in a little over a fortnight. In each House there 

was opposition to the measure, especially on the very 

fair ground that this particular Parliament had no right 

to extend its own duration, to which argument there was 

no reply except the unanswerable plea of the public 

good. A decided majority, however, passed the bill, 

and there was no strong feeling on either side amongst 

the people at large. The Septennial Act is still the law 

of England, though custom has reduced the limit for a 

Parliament's duration from seven years to a period never 

exceeding six ; even this limit a Parliament is generally 

not permitted to reach. Though annual Parliaments 

formed one of the points of the people's charter, there is 

at present no considerable party that wishes to repeal the 

Septennial Act. Under it the House of Commons has 

increased in strength, and the period of six or seven 

years, with power in the hands of the sovereign to abridge 

the time, though not to lengthen it, may be regarded as 

a middle course between subserviency to the Crown 

which a long-lived parliament might exhibit, and the 

frequent shiftings of power through annual parliaments. 

Some three years later an endeavour was made to alter 

the constitution of the House of Lords. 

The Peerage Bill was a proposal of the ministry to 

limit the King's prerogative in the matter of the creation 

of peers. On the occasion of the treaty of 

Peerage Utrccht, though there was a maiority in the 

ciU. ^_ ... 

Commons in its favour, the majority in the 

House of Lords was hostile to the treaty, for in that House 



A. D. 17 1 5 Septennial Act and Peerage Bill. 45 

the majority was Whig, In the present day this would 
probably not endanger a treaty, but at the time it was 
thought so important to secure a majority in each House 
that Harley — or, to give him his title, Lord Oxford — as the 
Prime Minister, advised the Queen to make twelve new 
peers to vote for the treaty, thus securing the desired 
majority. A witty lord, in allusion to their number being 
the same as that of a common jury, asked if the new 
lords 'voted separately or through their foreman,' The 
advice which Harley gave in this matter, as straining the 
royal prerogative, was one of the charges upon which 
stress was laid in the attack made upon him at the begin- 
ning of the reign. The ministers now proposed that the 
King should surrender the prerogative of making an un- 
limited number of peers, and they persuaded King George 
to give his assent to their proposal. The Peerage Bill 
provided that beyond the royal family the sovereign 
should have power only to add six to the existing num- 
ber, though a new peer might be created whenever a peer- 
age became extinct. The bill further provided that the 
system of electing sixteen representative peers of Scot- 
land should cease, twenty-five being ca,lled up at once to 
the House of Lords, and the remaining Scotch peers 
being summoned to take seats whenever one of these 
twenty-five peerages became extinct. This latter pro- 
posal, though nowadays it would absorb almost all the 
Scotch peers, who are not also peers of the United King- 
dom, and might therefore be held to be judicious, was 
shown to be hard on the Scotch peers who would not be 
within the magic twenty-five. Such peers have this pecu- 
liar disadvantage, that they cannot sit in the House of Com- 
mons. But the greater part of the opposition was directed 
against the limitation of the peerage. If this principle had 
become law it would have changed the character of the 



46 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 171 5 

English House of Lords, and converted it into a caste. 
It is the glory of that House that by merit any one may 
rise to it, and that the son of a peer is a commoner ; whilst 
a younger son, except of his own merit, will never be. any- 
thing else. Moreover, the creation of peers is a safety- 
valve to the political machine. If the sovereign and the 
Commons be at one in favour of any measure, and the 
Lords differ from them, this power, not necessarily used, 
but held in reserve, would prevent a deadlock. On 
one famous occasion it had this effect. The difficulty in 
carrying the great Reform Bill would have been much 
greater if this unwise Peerage Bill had been law. Natu- 
rally the Lords liked it, for it increased the power of 
each one of them individually, as well as of their House 
collectively. It was equally natural that the Commons 
rejected the measure. Their action seems to have been 
almost entirely due to Walpole, who insisted that the 
Whigs in the Commons ought to oppose the measure, 
and who led the opposition with a most eloquent speech. 
His influence on this occasion may be said to have fore- 
shadowed the fact that he was the coming leader. 

It is interesting to remember, in connection with the 

conflict which raged over the Peerage Bill, that in the war 

of pamphlets which all political measures 

Addison and produced, answerino^ to modern leading- ar- 

Steele. r ' t. & 

tides, a sort of literary duel was fought be- 
tween Addison and Steele, Once they had been close 
friends, but on this occasion they wrote very bitterly of 
each other, Addison, under the name of ' Old Whig,' 
took the side of the Lords, chiefly basing his support of 
the Bill on the creation of the twelve peers, Steele called 
himself ' Plebeian,' and urged arguments similar to those 
of Walpole. 

It was only a few weeks after this that Addison died. 



A. D. 171 5 Septennial Act and Peerage Bill. 47 

Addison's fame belongs to the world of letters, and rests 
on the purity and delicacy of his writinsf-s, and 

in, • n ^ ■ ^ ^ ■ ^ Addison. 

on the excellent miiuence which they enjoyed. 
He was a remarkable instance of the way in which, in 
that day, success in literature drew political position with 
it. On the accession of King George, Addison was ap- 
pointed secretary to the Lords Justices who acted as a 
Council of Regency until the King's arrival. One of the 
commonplaces of essayists is a story how, in drawing up 
the address to the King, Addison hesitated so long in his 
choice of words that at length the Lords Justices sent for 
an ordinary clerk, who at once did what was wanted. 
The obvious answer has been given that a clerk would be 
likely to know the forms better than a minister ; and, 
curiously enough, on the accession of George II. a 
similar difficulty in drawing up an address was felt by no 
less an official than the Speaker of the House of Com- 
mons. It is probably true that Addison, though so re- 
nowned a writer, was not a good minister, and a striking 
remark of a modern historian ^ may here be quoted : 
' What a good exchange of stations might have been 
made by Swift and Addison ! Addison would have made 
an excellent dean, and Swift an admirable secretary of 
state.' This, at any rate, will not hurt the feelings of 
those jealous for literature, because Swift is as famous an 
author as Addison. A serious drawback to usefulness 
upon the Treasury bench in Parliament would have 
arisen from Addison's shy and retiring manner, if the 
traditions be true that he is himself the silent ' Spectator ' 
of his famous book. Strange irony of fate, that the man 
who described himself ' living in the world rather as a 
spectator of mankind than as one of the species,' making 
himself ' a speculative statesman, soldier, merchant, and 
^ Sir James Mackintosh. 



4s The Early Hanoverians, A. d. 17 15 

artisan, without ever meddling with any practical part in 
life,' ' resolved to observe an exact neutrality between the 
Whigs and Tories,' should within seven years of penning 
these words be made a secretary of state ! Yet Addi- 
son's colleagues, no incompetent judges, must have 
thought well of his business faculties and valued his 
assistance, for he continually rose in place ; and three 
years from the beginning of the reign we find Addison 
made one of the two secretaries of state. This office 
answers to what we now call the Home Department. 
In this position Addison did not distinguish himself 
except for modesty and leniency ; but he had been re- 
luctant to accept office, was in bad health all the while 
that he held it, and resigned as soon as he could. Fifteen 
months after his resignation, and a few weeks after the 
controversy with Steele, Addison died. The story is well 
known how, on his death-bed, he summoned his stepson 
and former pupil, a wild young lord, that he might see in 
what peace a Christian could die. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FRANCE AND SPAIN. 

On September i, 17 15, Lewis XIV., generally called le 

Grand Monarqite, died, and a cry of relief ran through all 

France. The reign of repression was over ; 

Death of men felt that nothingr which mio-ht follow could 

Lewis XIV. ^ ^ 

be worse than that which had been. The pub- 
lic rejoicing went even to indecent lengths. The Jesuits 
could with difficulty be protected from the public rage. 
Lewis XIV. was seventy-seven when he died. He had 
begun to reign when he was only five years old, and now 
a little boy of the same age, his great-grandson, also a Lewis, 



A. D. 17 17 France a7id Spain. 49 

was his successor. During the last four and a half years 
of the reign of the old king, numerous deaths 
in the royal family had followed on the public Lewis XV., 
calamities and distress of the kingdom. Five 
years previously the king's son, the Dauphin, was living, 
and his grandson, the Duke of Burgundy. France was 
in a condition that required a strong and wise govern- 
ment rather than a minor for a king, together with all 
the perils and cabals which mark a regency. At the 
beginning of the century the great engineer, Vauban, 
declared that nearly a tenth of the country was reduced 
to beggary, and that of the rest only another tenth was 
in any position to give to beggars. Since the beginning 
of the century the distress had become much worse. On 
the death of Lewis XIV. the public debt amounted to 
2,400,000,000 francs, or about 100 million pounds sterling, 
a sum at that day unheard of for a national debt. The 
credit of the French Government was so bad that it 
had to give four times the value in notes for any cash 
that it raised. Throughout France commerce was para- 
lysed, the nobles were crippled by debt, the officials 
could not obtain their salaries. In many parts the 
peasants were starving. The condition of the country 
was a terrible comment on the glories of the reign of 
Lewis XIV. 

The late king had made an elaborate testament with 
arrangements for the regency, and for the education of 
his little successor, but he did not himself 

1 • 111 • 1 • » Regency. 

expect that attention would be paid to it. 'As 
soon as I am dead,' he remarked, 'it will be disregarded, 
I know well enough what was done with the will of the 
king, my father.' Philip, Duke of Orleans, brother's son 
of the late king, was the nearest prince of the blood ; and 
in spite of the late king's will the Parliament of Paris 

E 



50 The Early Ha7ioverians. A. D. 171 8 

decreed that the Duke of Orleans should have the regency 
without a council — that is, that he should have supreme 
power. It may be as well here to remark that the Parlia- 
ment of Paris was a court of law, not a legislative assem- 
bly like an English Parliament. 

The Duke of Orleans, father of this Philip, and brother 
to Lewis XIV., may be regarded as the founder of the 

House of Orleans. The great-grandson of 
Duke of i-j-^g Regent was the Duke, known as ' Egalite ' 

during the French Revolution. His son was 
Lewis Philip, King of the French from 1830 to 1848, whose 
grandson in turn is the Count of Paris, the present repre- 
sentative of the old royal family of France. 

With the new reign and new regent came a new 
policy. The Duke of Orleans, knowing the exhausted 

state of the country, was determined on a 

Peace policy. r r • n jr j -r 

policy 01 peace, especially 01 peace, and if 
possible of friendship, with England, although he knew 
full well that this was a complete reversal of the tradi- 
tions of his country. Early in 17 17 a formal alliance was 
made between France, England, and the Dutch, to which 
the name of the Triple Alliance was given. The French 
entirely abandoned the cause of the Pretender, and 
recognised the House of Brunswick. The basis of the 
Triple Alliance was the complete carrying out of the 
terms of the treaty of Utrecht, or, to put it in other 
words, the maintenance of existing arrangements in 
Europe. 

In 1718 the Emperor also joined the alliance, which 
then received the name of the Quadruple Alliance. But 

there was little difference beyond the name. 
Ch^^?^° VI '^^^ object was the same. The only proposal 

of alterations in the conditions of the treaty 
of Utrecht was the exchange of Sicily for Sardinia, the 



A.D. 1 718 France and Spain. 51 

Emperor taking Sicily, and the Duke of Savoy Sardinia. 
Herein the Emperor gained a manifest advantage. Sar- 
dinia was by no means as valuable as Sicily, though more 
handy for the Duke of Savoy. Therefore it was agreed 
that the latter should assume the title of ' King of 
Sardinia.' 

The great war in the reign of Queen Anne was called 
the War of the Spanish Succession. Of the two claimants 
to the crown of Spain, the Archduke Charles 
was now the Emperor Charles VL, and his Philip of 

1^ ' Spam. 

rival, Philip, was recognised as King of Spain. 
This King Philip of Spain lost his wife just after the acces- 
sion of George I. in England, and had mar- 
ried again. His new wife was Elizabeth Far- Elizabeth 

° _ _ i^arnese. 

nese. Princess of Parma, niece of the reign- 
ing Duke of Parma, a strong-minded and very ambitious 
woman. As the Duke of Parma had no children, she 
claimed to be recognised as his heiress. When, later, a 
son was born to her, she was still more anxious to obtain 
this inheritance for him. For some time forward this claim 
was a constant source of danger to the peace of Europe. 
For though the triple or quadruple alliance tended to pro- 
duce peace, there was one power in Europe which would 
not acquiesce in these arrangements. Spain was the 
power which had suffered most from the treaty of Utrecht, 
and Spain, at this time, was under an ambitious, bold, 
and able minister. 

Cardinal Alberoni was a man of remarkable talent, 
which, together with unscrupulousness, had raised him, in 
spite of natural disadvantages, from the 

111 • • TT • 1 -1 1 1 1 Alberoni. 

humblest origm. He is described, though 
certainly not by a friendly hand, as a dwarf with broad 
shoulders, a thick head, with a face marked with small- 
pox and with hardly any nose at all. His father was a 



52 The Early Hanove7'ia7is. a.d. 17 i8 

poor gardener in a small town in Italy, but the son, 
having received from charity the rudiments of education, 
entered the service of the Church and gradually rose 
therein. Diplomacy lured him from the proper work of 
the Church, and he made himself useful first in the small 
Italian court of Parma ; then, especially through the 
means of flattery and assumed jocularity, to a French 
general in Italy, who in turn introduced him to Lewis XIV, 
When . the King of Spain married Elizabeth of Parma, 
Alberoni passed into the service of Spain, where he 
resolutely set himself to the task of raising the country 
from the terrible condition into which she had fallen. If 
France was in bad plight, Spain was in worse. 
Internal Spain was then very much in the state that 

policy. ^ ^ 

France was afterwards at the time of the 
Revolution, after another seventy years of misery, mis- 
rule, and war ; and the distress of Spain proceeded from 
somewhat similar causes. The finances were embar- 
rassed, the administration was bad. The growth of trade 
was fettered by the division of the land into provinces, 
each with its own ring of custom-houses. The nobility 
and clergy claimed exemption from taxation. Luckily 
for Alberoni the Crown was very strong. By its power 
alone he deprived the nobility and clergy of their immu- 
nity, and abolished the internal custom-houses. The 
public administration was greatly improved. One cir- 
cumstance helped Alberoni' s efforts. Spain had lost 
all her foreign possessions, which though, doubtless, at 
one time a source of revenue, had lately been merely 
an encumbrance and an expense. ' Let your Majesty re- 
main but five years at peace,' said Alberoni to the King, 
' and I will make you the most powerful monarch in 
Europe.' Had all these changes been made solely to 
increase the happiness of Spain and its inhabitants, no 



A.D. 171S France and Spain. 53 

praise would be too great. By them, perhaps, he saved 
Spain from the catastrophe which awaited France. But 
they were made only as a means to an end, that Spain 
might embark on a war of aggression in order to win 
back her former greatness. Alberoni was as ambitious 
as any of the proud Spaniards who were offended at 
his reforms, but he saw more clearly than they that only 
through an increase of internal resources and careful 
husbandry of finances would Spain have power abroad. 
Within five years after the treaty of Utrecht, Alberoni 
had so husbanded the internal resources of Spain that he 
considered her in a position to strive after 

•II /- ii • 1-1 Alberoni's 

wmnmg back some of the possessions which foreign 
she had lost in the last war. Against different policy. 
members of the alliance he set different schemes on foot. 
Against Austria there is no doubt he was secretly encour- 
aging the Turks, strange though it may seem that a 
cardinal should urge Mohammedans against a Christian 
power. In order to occupy the attention of England, 
Alberoni was working in order to induce Charles XII. 
of Sweden, angry about the cession of Bremen and 
Verden, to attempt an invasion on behalf of the Pre- 
tender. The Swedish hero would have proved a formid- 
able opponent for any English general except Marl- 
borough. For France, Alberoni's design was to ferment 
conspiracies against the Regent, and to lend a helping 
hand to all who were discontented with his government. 
The King of Spain himself entertained a strong feeling 
of hatred towards his relative, the Regent, and was 
only too ready in every way to oppose him. One for- 
midable conspiracy against the Regent was discovered, 
and crushed, by way of. example, with great severity. 
Without any formal declaration of war, a powerful Span- 
ish fleet was equipped. Its destination was not known 



54 The Eai'ly Haiioverians. a.d. 1718 

until Europe heard that this Spanish force had wrested 
the island of Sardinia from Austria, for the cession to 
Savoy was not yet carried out. When, a little later, a 
Spanish fleet was sent to attempt to regain Sicily, an 
English fleet was found there ready to resist them. This 
fleet was under the command of Admiral Byng, the 
father of that Admiral Byng who was shot for not fight- 
ing the enemy at the outset of the Seven Years' War, 
Palermo fell an easy prey to the Spaniards, but the 
citadel of Messina held out against them. A naval 
action ensued, in which Byng entirely destroyed the 
Spanish fleet. 

Charles XII., however, had other enemies besides 
George I., and in attacking Norway he fell at the siege 
of Fredericshall. 

His fall was destined to a barren strand, 
A petty fortress and a dubious hand. 

But, in spite of the death of Charles XII., Alberoni still 

determined to persevere with his attempt to help the 

Pretender. At Cadiz a small fleet was col- 
Death of , , ^ ^ , , 
Charles XII. Icctcd of mcu-of-war and transports, together 

Abortive at- -^i ^ j c ■ .• ^^ 

tempt for With 5,ooo men and arms for six times as 

Pretender. many Jacobitcs in Scotland. The Duke of 
Ormond was to assume the command. But the English 
Government received news of the attempt, and, as on 
many another occasion, the elements seemed to fight for 
England. A storm scattered the fleet when crossing the 
Bay of Biscay. Two ships reached Scotland with 300 
Spanish soldiers; they were joined by some 2,000 High- 
landers. But this little force could do nothing, and was 
easily annihilated in the valley of Glenshiel. 

Shortly afterwards war was declared against Spain both 



A. D. 1719 Law and the South Sea Bubble. 55 

by France and England. The Pretender, fancying that 

this was his opportunity, hastened to Madrid, 

where he was received with royal honours. '^\q^'^ Span- 

•' ish war. 

The French sent a force across the Spanish 
frontier under the Duke of Berwick, and seized the town 
of Fontarabia. A short while previously this same duke 
had been commanding French troops fighting on the side 
of the King of Spain. An English fleet took the town of 
Vigo, not for the first time that it was taken by England. 
An Austrian army turned the Spaniards out of Sicily. 
By the end of the year peace was made, the chief condi- 
tion of peace being the dismissal of Alberoni as a general 
troubler of the public quiet. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LAW AND THE SOUTH SEA BUBBLE. 

The finances of France were in so bad a state that it 
is not wonderful that statesmen should have seized on 
almost any proposals for improving them. A Scotchman, 
named John Law, exiled from his country because of his 
share in a duel, who had made a fortune by 
gambling, proposed to the Regent to relieve Law's pro- 
the pressure by means of paper money. The 
principles of political economy were not understood, and 
it was not seen that paper money is only of value where 
it represents wealth, and that wealth consists of the sum 
of things necessary, useful, and agreeable, possessing an 
exchange value. Though convertible paper money may 
usefully be made to represent wealth, an inconvertible 
paper currency is not wealth; yet the idea that it is seems 
to have a fascination of its own, and to be reproduced 
from time to time in each succeeding generation. Law's 



$6 The Early Hanoveria?is. A.D. 17 19 

bank was established as a private bank, but was so 
successful that in a couple of years it was converted by 
the Regent into a royal bank. Had no further steps 
been taken, it is possible that little mischief might have 
accrued, but the bank began to speculate. There was 
joined to it a company called the Mississippi company, 
for trading with the French colony of Louisiana, now 
one of the United States. It was believed that the 
profits of this trade would be enormous, and Law repre- 
sented that, if the country obtained a monopoly, the 
profits should be used to wipe out the whole national 
debt of France. A rush was made for the shares of the 
company, which consequently rose in value until they 
are said to have reached forty times their original value. 
The shares were only to be purchased with the paper 
money of the bank. This created for a time a demand 
for the bank's notes. It seemed as if an era of general 
prosperity had dawned, and the street in which the 
office of the bank stood was crowded from morning 
until night. The wildest excitement prevailed in all 
ranks of society. Money easily won was quickly and 
lavishly spent, often in gross debauchery. The gambling 
spirit pervaded the whole nation for a couple of years, 
at the end of which time the inevitable reaction followed 
upon the splendid vision of prosperity. Law, it is said, 
had issued bank notes for eighty times the value of all 
the coin in France. But from the Mississippi company 
no profits accrued. At length a panic set in. The nomi- 
nal value of its shares came down almost as quickly as it 
had gone up. Within a few months from the time when 
all or almost all were satisfied with the new prosperity. 
Law fled from the country. Had he not first concealed 
himself and then escaped, he would have been torn in 
pieces. He died a few years afterwards in Venice in the 



A. D. 1 7 19 Law and the South Sea Bubble. 57 

utmost poverty. The greatest distress was felt throughout 
the whole of France, for almost everyone had joined in 
the general mania for speculation. 

The example of France was infectious. England caught 
the infection in what is known as the South Sea Bubble. 
We can see, however, that the intercourse 
between the two nations must then have been ?,^V^^ ^^^ 

Bubble. 

slow, for Law's scheme was already discred- 
ited and the French bubble had broken before the English 
bubble had reached its full dimensions. The mischief in 
England ran its course in a much shorter time, altogether 
about six months. The South Sea Company had been 
established some time previously ; it had not as yet done 
much of its legitimate business, trading with the Spanish 
coasts of America — indeed, it may be added that to this it 
never did attend. But it was a powerful corporation, and 
was considered the rival of the Bank of England. A pro- 
posal came from the company that it should buy up the 
National Debt. It was universally thought that the South 
Sea Company would be very successful in its trading ven- 
tures, and that the profits would enable it in some strange 
way to extinguish the debt. In the month of April a bill 
was passed through both Houses of Parliament, giving all 
the powers required. There was more opposition in the 
Lords than in the Commons ; in the latter the bill had been 
proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the 
passing of the act South Sea stock rose from 130 to 1,000. 
This example proved very contagious, and a great 
many companies were started, some for the 
most ludicrous objects. Historians have ?^',"°,'' 

■' bubbles. 

given lists of these objects, and it is worth 
while to mention some in order to show the lengths to 
which human folly will sometimes go. Companies were 
to be established with the following objects : — 



58 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1720 

Wrecks to be fished for on the Irish coast. 

To make salt water fresh. 

For extracting silver from lead. 

For transmuting quicksilver into a malleable metal. 

For importing a number of large jackasses from Spain. 

For trading in human hair. 

A wheel for perpetual motion. 

The most extravagant proposal of all was for an ' under- 
taking which hereafter shall be revealed.' Each subscri- 
ber was to pay two guineas. It is said that i ,000 subscribed 
in a single morning, and then the projector decamped. 
This last story, inconceivable at any ordinary time, shows 
the excited state of mind of the many gamblers. ♦ 

The fall was even more prompt in London than in Paris. 
A great many families were reduced to beggary. Walpole, 
who had not been in office when the South Sea 
General ^^j- ^g^g passed, but as a member had opposed 

it, and who had already earned a reputation 
as a financier, was called to office. He became prime 
minister and chancellor of the exchequer, and by the 
measures that he took restored public confidence. 

The difference between the English and the French 

crash may be shortly summed up. In France there was 

only one vortex ; the bank and the Mississippi 

Comparison. . 

company had united. In England the Bank 
of England always remained a rival and hostile company, 
so that there was an established corporation to which to 
turn when the crash came. Moreover, in England, there 
were a great many little bubbles round about the big 
bubble. Though many individuals lost largely in their 
speculations, the nation, as a nation, did not suffer to the 
same extent as in France. Periods of rash and wild specu- 
lation are not uncommon in modern history, but the time 
of Law and of the South Sea Bubble is the worst on record. 



A. D, 1 72 1 Sir Robert Walpole. 59 

The shock to pubhc morahty which this period of 
speculation produced was greater in France than in Eng- 
land. In the condition of the latter there 
was no ground for boasting. Religion was Low state of 

° & & morality. 

never at a lower ebb ; the political world was 
almost hopelessly corrupt. But in France it seemed as if 
all decency was lost. It was a time of shameless and 
open profligacy, the Regent himself setting the example. 
It is pleasant, however, to be able to mention a conspicu- 
ous instance of goodness. 

In the year 1720, a plague broke out in the town of 
Marseilles and throughout Provence, which carried off 
no fewer than 85,000 persons. The horror 
with which the news was received throughout f J^*"^„^* 

'^ Marseilles. 

France was to some extent mitigated by the 
admirable devotion of the Bishop of Marseilles, and of 
certain others who followed his example. A thousand 
times did he risk his life in helping the smitten, and yet 
he escaped unhurt. The account of this suggested the 
problem propounded in the famous couplet of Pope — 

Why drew Marseilles' good bishop purer breath, 
When nature sickened, and each gale was death ? 



CHAPTER IX. 

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 

Robert Walpole, thus called to high office in the 
nation's need, was the third son of a country gentleman, 
born at his father's place, Houghton, in Norfolk. He 
was educated at Eton and afterwards at King's College, 
Cambridge, but beyond a few quotations from Horace 
not much of his learning clung to him. Both his brothers 



6o The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1721 

died before he was twenty-two, and his father when he 
was twenty-four, at which age, in the year 1700, he was 
returned to Parhament for a small family borough. From 
the first a zealous Whig, Walpole soon showed his value 
to his party and was rewarded with office. He was made 
secretary of war, and later treasurer of the navy. When, 
after Sa-cheverell's trial, the Whigs went out of office, 
Walpole, who had been one of the managers in that trial, 
though he felt the policy of it to be mistaken, retired with 
his party, and the victorious Tories carried a resolution 
that he had been ' guilty of breach of trust and notorious 
corruption.' Walpole was even sent to the Tower and 
kept there for a few months. But such manifest party 
action only helped him, and when the Whigs were re- 
stored to power, on the accession of the new king, Wal- 
pole was made paymaster of the forces, and afterwards 
chancellor of the exchequer. Differing, however, from 
his colleagues, he resigned, and remained in opposition 
until just before the bursting of the South Sea Bubble, 
when he returned to office. Fortunately he had no more 
share in the South Sea scheme than to have speculated 
for himself, and with wise prescience to have sold out in 
time. The public, therefore, looked to him, and his suc- 
cess in devising healing measures after the disaster, 
together with his great skill in finance, made him first 
lord of the treasury as well as chancellor of the ex- 
chequer. 

Sir Robert Walpole was chief minister of England for 
no less than twenty-one years. A knowledge of his char- 
acter would hardly have led anyone before- 
w^ ^°\^^^ hand to expect that he would have enjoyed so 
long a tenure of power. He seemed to be a 
hearty, goodnatured, country squire, very fond of country 
pursuits, especially of all kinds of sport. The House of 



A. D. 1 72 1 Sir Robert Walpole. 6i 

Commons very rarely does any work upon a Saturday, 
and a former Speaker of the House attributed this Satur- 
day holiday to Walpole's love of hunting. Walpole was 
not a leader of the people calculated to rouse enthusiasm 
for himself. Indeed, he did not believe in enthusiasm, 
and did not covet popularity. He did not want people's 
love ; he wanted the votes of members. In order to excite 
enthusiasm and love amongst the people at large, a states- 
man must have some of the qualities that dazzle, such as 
the gifts of oratory, or he must initiate and carry out 
great changes and reforms, or must bring a nation suc- 
cessfully through a great war. Walpole was no orator, 
but a common-sense business speaker ; he hated change, 
and he hated the very idea of war. But history is bound 
to do justice to a statesman, even if his contemporaries 
did not love him, and to remember both what is seen and 
what is not seen. Walpole deserves every credit for 
steering England clear from dangers which threatened, 
and for giving to an exhausted country a period of much 
needed rest. A reforming minister, eager for great 
changes, would not have been of advantage to the coun- 
try at that particular time. The succession was disputed, 
the new dynasty was in itself unpopular, and greal polit- 
ical dissensions might have given a handle to the Jacobites 
and have plunged the country into the horrors of civil 
war. Qiiieta non movere, Walpole's favourite maxim, 
which may be translated by the equivalent maxim of a 
modern statesman, ' Why can you not let it alone ? ' is 
not a high-souled motto, but there are times when it is 
wise. Even when Walpole agreed with a reform, he pre- 
ferred to let it alone. He was in favour of toleration of 
dissenters, and the dissenters were supporters of his 
policy. Whenever measures of toleration were pressed 
upon him, he would declare his sympathy, but urge that 



62 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1721 

the time had not arrived. The time, it may be added, 
never did arrive. 

Walpole was a goodhumoured, easy-going man, 

though, doubtless, too fond of making things smooth. 

The love of peace, mentioned by his biog- 

Character. . 

rapher as the uniform principle of his ad- 
ministration, was shown in the determination to keep 
England free from Continental wars, as well as in the 
desire for political peace at home. ' Fifty thousand men 
slain in Europe this year and not one Englishman ' was 
once his proud boast, and a nation weary of fighting other 
people's battles was glad of the rest. When, later, the 
nation was ready for war and drove Walpole into it, he 
felt himself out of place, and was unhappy accordingly. 
It would have been better for his reputation had he 
resigned office rather than declare war. Walpole's own 
character and personal inclinations to a remarkable extent 
decided the policy of England. It is noteworthy how in 
them he differed both from the past and from the future 
of the Whig party to which he belonged. From the Revo- 
lution onwards — that is, almost since the formation of the 
party — the Whigs had been in favour of a vigorous Con- 
tinental policy of war with France. This was partly to a 
blind following of William III,, partly to the fact that 
France was regarded as the main friend of the Stuarts. 
Amongst modern politicians the party of reform traces 
its traditional descent from the Whigs, so that Walpole, 
as a party leader, ranks as a predecessor of Lord John 
Russell. As a peace minister he would receive the admi- 
ration of many modern Liberals, 

Walpole's constant goodnature was shown in his cle- 
mency and moderation towards opponents. The need 
of making an example would have driven many ministers 
into severer measures against the Jacobites, constantly 



A.D. 1 72 1 Sir Robert Walpole. 63 

engaged in small plots, which might develop into danger. 
Walpole studiously avoided severity, and winked at their 
plottings rather than punish them. No minister was ever 
more attacked by libels ; none was more slow to prosecute. 
The gravest charge against Walpole is that he made 
systematic use of corruption and bribery. ' Every man 
has his price,' is the saying usually attributed 

,.T, 1 11 1-- Corruption. 

to him. It has been proved that this is not 
exactly what he said. Speaking of a group of members, 
he once said, ' Each of these men has his price.' There 
is no doubt whatever that Walpole systematically bought 
the votes of members, using what is known as the secret 
service money for the purpose. Modern writers have 
defended Walpole upon different grounds. For instance, 
it is more honest and not morally worse to buy political 
support with money than with promises of appointments. 
Corruption was the fault of the age, and it is unfair to 
judge any man without regarding the morality of his time. 
There is no doubt that the secrecy with which parliament- 
ary proceedings were conducted was very helpful to this 
corruption. Bribery has many forms. In Walpole's time 
it took the form of buying the votes of members, in a 
later time of buying the votes of constituents. In either 
shape it is equally wrong, equally hurtful to the best inter- 
ests of the nation. In so far as Walpole fostered this vice, 
he did harm to the morals of the nation. Had he desired, 
he might have led public opinion to greater political purity, 
but probably such a thought never even entered his head. 
Walpole's attitude towards purity and political enthu- 
siasm was almost more hurtful of public morality. He 
was always sneering at the enthusiasm of young mem- 
bers, deliberately setting himself to laugh at their stand- 
ard, if higher than his own. A young man would be 
elected to the House, full of patriotism, full of desire to do 



64 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1722 

good, untainted by corruption. Walpole would call him 
an ancient Roman, and assure him that he would soon 
' come off that.' It was he who gave the nickname of 
' the boys ' to a small cluster of these young enthusiasts, 
one of whom, William Pitt, a young cornet of horse, 
never ' came off that,' remained untouched by the bribery 
and corruption, and, in the generation after Walpole, 
raised the morality of the whole English nation by the 
example he set of disinterestedness in politics and of ear- 
nest patriotism. 

Walpole's strongest point as a statesman was his 

finance. In this respect he was not only far superior to 

his contemporaries, but it is necessary to go 

Financier. _ l , . , ^, 

forward a century to nnd his equal. The 
financial measures that Walpole took to restore public con- 
fidence after the South Sea Bubble formed the firm basis 
of his long tenure of power. It will be remembered that 
one of the chief inducements for Parliament to accept the 
bill was that the South Sea Company meant to reduce, 
if not extinguish, the National Debt. When first the 
nation incurred a large debt, shrewd financiers, as well as 
people who knew nothing of finance, were alarmed at 
its existence, and still more alarmed as the amount of it 
grew. In our own time the debt is so much larger, and 
has lasted so long without disastrous results, that we are 
more inclined to commit the opposite fault, and think 
too little of the debt. The growth or diminution of the 
National Debt is a sure indication of the history of the 
nation. If a table were made showing the state of the 

Debt in each year during the eighteenth cen- 
National tury, it would be easy to infer from the table 

whether England was in any given year at 
war or peace. Increasing debt meant war, and during 
the latter part of the century the increase in some years 



A. D. 1723 Sir Robert Walpole. 65 

was enormous. Decreasing debt meant peace. Under 
Walpole — let it be remembered to his honour — the debt 
decreased. It is true that the decrease is never on so 
rapid a scale as the increase. It has been pointed out 
that it is the peculiar honour of the reign of George I. 
that in it the National Debt grew smaller ; whereas, in the 
reigns of his immediate predecessors and successors, the 
debt increased, and even in an increasing ratio. It must 
be added that the decrease is due to the policy of Wal- 
pole, and that he deserves the credit of it. Nothing more 
clearly marks the true character of his policy than the 
statement that in seventeen years, dating from January 
I, 1723, 8 millions of the debt were paid off. 

Millions 



At accession of George I. 

When the South Sea trouble was over 

At end of 1739, practical close of Wal- 

pole's financial policy . . . .47 
In 1748, peace of Aix-la-Chapelle . . ']'] 

In 1755, reduced to 72X 

In 1763, end of Seven Years' War . . 139 

Neither a nation nor an individual should be guided 
in the choice of a course to be pursued solely by money 
considerations ; but as we blame an individual who rashly 
incurs debt, we may, to some extent, estimate the policy 
of a minister by his care of the public purse. Although 
this amount of debt was paid, off during the peace, and 
though we praise Walpole for having done so much, 
complaint has been made that he did not effect more. 
At least two eminent men have complained that the 
debt was not paid off altogether, — Adam Smith, in the 
'Wealth of Nations,' and the younger Pitt. 

Not only did Walpole look after the principal, but, 

F 



66 The Early Hanoverians, a.d. 1723 

by skilful management, he reduced the burden of the 
charc^es, and this in a much greater propor- 

Interest. . ^ ' , . "^ ^ J^ ^ ^ 

tion. The growmg prosperity of England 
made money more abundant, and when an article is 
more abundant it becomes cheaper. Walpole took ad- 
vantage of this to reduce the rate of interest on the 
National Debt. This he effected before he had done 
much with the principal. A few figures will make his 
success clear. In round numbers, the debt at the acces- 
sion of George I. was 54 millions, and cost 3,350,000/. ; 
at his death it was 52 millions, and cost 2,220,000/. 

With respect to the reduction of the Debt, Walpole 
was in favour of what is known as a sinking fund. This 

meant that a sum of money should be set 
Sinking aside every year, so that a fund would grow, 

Fund. ■' ■' ^ . 

by compound interest and by annual incre- 
ments, until it was large enough to extinguish the debt. 
The objections to this plan, though it afterwards received 
the support of the younger Pitt, are twofold. It is cum- 
brous and indirect, for there is no reason why the money 
should not be applied directly each year to the reduction 
of debt. Also this fund would present each year a temp- 
tation to the chancellor of the exchequer if he had any 
difficulty in providing money from other sources. This 
sinking fund Walpole estabhshed, but he himself was not 
proof against the temptation indicated. 

It seems to be using the language of a different period 
to speak of Walpole as in favour of free trade, 

Free Trade. r r 

but he abolished a great many duties both 
on imports and exports. Above everything he was very 
careful of the public money, except in the single matter 
of payment for parliamentary support. In secret-service 
money he was lavish. Whilst Walpole was in power the 
wealth of the country increased to a very marked extent, 



A. D. 1724 Sir Robert Walpole. 67 

wise financial measures co-operating with peace to pro- 
duce this result. 

In connection with a financial question, a very curious 
disturbance arose in Ireland towards the close of the 
reign of George I. There had been a scar- 
city of copper money, and in the exercise of ^^^^^^'^ 
the king's prerogative a patent was granted 
to a Birmingham ironmaster of the name of Wood to coin 
a large quantity of such money. The patent was cor- 
rectly drawn, the granting of it undoubtedly lay within 
the prerogative of the King. The officers of the Mint 
had tested the coin, and the Master of the Mint was no 
less a man than Sir Isaac Newton. For some reasons 
never clearly explained, a feeling at once arose in Ireland 
against the new money. Probably it was because Wood, 
a Birmingham speculator, and in himself a man of 
unpleasant, swaggering manners, was an Englishman. 
This feeling was shared and expressed by the Irish Par- 
liament, which had never been consulted in the matter ; 
but then it must be remembered that had a similar patent 
been granted in England, it would not have been sub- 
mitted to the Parliament at Westminster. The feeling 
would in all probability have died away had it not been 
for the part played by Dean Swift, who had been living 
almost in retirement in Dublin since the death of Queen 
Anne and the ejection of the Tories had destroyed his 
hopes of promotion. He wrote a series of seven letters, 
signed M. B. Drapier, in which he pretended to be an 
unlettered tradesman, abusing the money and all who 
were concerned in the patent, saving the King's Majesty. 

The Lord-Lieutenant strongly advised the ministers 
to yield, and Walpole knew how to yield with grace. 
The patent was withdrawn, and Swift became the idol of 
the Irish people. Never had a literary man such a 



68 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 1724 

triumph, for through the power of his pen the worse cause 
prevailed. 



CHAPTER X. 

ATTERBURY AND BOLINGBROKE. 

The ablest man amongst the Jacobites who remained in 
England was Bishop Atterbury. He was born shortly 
after the Restoration, and the spirit of that 
period seemed to have entered into his blood. 
Educated at Westminster under the famous Dr. Busby 
and then at Christ Church, Oxford, he became a High 
Churchman and a Jacobite at a time when Oxford was 
the centre of the most extreme Jacobitism. Atterbury 
was one of the chief of a band of Christ Church scholars 
who were very thoroughly worsted in the famous Boyle 
and Bentley controversy, which, beginning with the ques- 
tion whether the ancients were superior to the moderns, 
branched off into a dispute about a book which Boyle 
edited as a classical work and Bentley proved to be a 
modern forgery. The Hon. Mr. Boyle was put forward 
as the nominal champion upon the Oxford side, but his 
weapons were believed to have been prepared chiefly by 
Atterbury, then Dean of Christ Church. 

The reign of Queen Anne was a pleasant time for a 
High Church Tory like Atterbury, and he rose rapidly, 
held several deaneries in succession, until near the end 
of the reign he was made Bishop of Rochester, whilst he 
still held the office of Dean of Westminster. 

More of a wit than a divine, Atterbury was an eloquent 
and graceful preacher, and he made a great impression 
on the House of Lords by his powerful speeches. Always 
ready for controversy, he was too much of a partisan, 



A.D. 1724 Atterbury and Bolingbroke. 69 

too much of a politician, to be a good bishop. Had he 
not been in orders, his talents would have brought him 
to the front rank of statesmen. But he would have been 
more distinguished for his zeal and courage than for his 
wisdom. Atterbury was the bishop who on the death of 
Queen Anne offered, if he could procure a sufficient 
guard, himself in his lawn-sleeves at Charing Cross, to 
proclaim her brother as King. When the ministers, 
though friendly, declined his offer, he is reported to have 
exclaimed with an unepiscopal oath that the finest cause 
in Europe had been lost through want of spirit. When 
George I. came, Atterbury took the oaths to him, but all 
the while remained Jacobite at heart. No oaths could pre- 
vent him from engaging in correspondence with the Pre- 
tender. In 1722 proof was discovered of this, and he 
was committed to the Tower, where he was treated to 
great severity. In spite of a very eloquent defence, a 
bill of pains and penalties was passed against him. He 
was deprived of his bishopric and sent into exile. A bill 
of pains and penalties is not a just measure, for it makes 
Parliament into a law court instead of a legislature. If 
Atterbury had broken the laws, and there was sufficient 
evidence to convict him, he should have been tried in an 
ordinary court. Many thought that the evidence was in- 
sufficient, but it has since been fully proved by the publi- 
cation of Jacobite letters that Atterbury was all the while 
engaged in treasonable correspondence. Bishop Atter- 
bury was one of the poet Pope's most intimate friends. 
Indeed in the world of letters he maybe said only to have 
a place on account of the literary counsel that he gave to 
the poet. 

Curiously enough, while Atterbury was in Calais on 
his way to exile, another even more brilliant sharer of 
his views chanced to be in the same town, returning 



70 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1724 

from exile to England. Both of them were friends of 
literature, notably, both of them intimate 

Boling- -^ 

broke' s re- with the poet Pope, who remarked, ' This 
nation cannot regain one great genius but at 
the expense of another.' But Atterbury had yet to taste 
the bitterness of the cup of the ingratitude of princes ; 
Bolingbroke had drunk it to the full. After the failure 
of the attempt in the Fifteen, which was undertaken con- 
trary to Bolingbroke's advice, James had dismissed 
Bolingbroke from his service without assigning a reason 
and with a certain amount of contumely. From the 
time of that dismissal, filled with a bitter contempt for 
the Prince, Bolingbroke worked hard to bring about his 
own restoration to England ; but for seven long years his 
efforts were unavailing. At length, it is said, through 
bribing the King's mistress, Bolingbroke obtained a 
pardon, which enabled him to return to England with 
his person secure. Two years later his estates were 
restored to him by an Act of Parliament reversing to 
that extent the act of attainder. He was then, according 
to his own expression, ' two-thirds restored, my person 
safe, and my estate with all the other property I have 
acquired secured to me ; ' but his seat in the House of 
Lords he was never able to regain. He professed to 
have retired in disgust from public life, but his pen was 
always at the disposal of the Tory party, which he con- 
stantly strove to rescue from the imputation of being 
entirely Jacobite. Bolingbroke would most gladly have 
taken office under the House of Hanover if he could 
have returned to politics, and been accepted as the 
leader of the disorganised Tories. During his enforced 
retirement from political life, Bolingbroke lived on terms 
of the greatest intimacy with Pope, who calls him 
his ' guide, philosopher, and friend.' It is even said that 



A.D. 1724 Atterbury atid Bolingbroke. 71 

Bolingbroke supplied the ideas of the ' Essay on Man.' 
The fallen statesman took a house near Pope's villa 
at Twickenham. Little wonder that the poet proudly 
boasts — 

There my retreat the best companions grace, 
Chiefs out of war, and statesmen out of place : 
There St. John mingles with my friendly bowl 
The feast of reason and the flow of soul. 

When Lord Bolingbroke found that he could not obtain 
the reversal of his attainder, literature gained the energy 
that would otherwise have been devoted to 
politics. Pamphlets he could always write, ^'?. 

■^ ^ •' writings. 

and those that he published were bitter 
against Walpole. Bolingbroke's most important writings 
are the ' Idea of a Patriot King ' and ' Letters on the Study 
and Use of History.' Of his compositions it may be said 
that the language is always beautiful, whilst through the 
matter there often appears an air of insincerity. His idea 
of a patriot king is opposed to the idea of constitutional 
monarchy. He maintained that the king should himself 
govern, and not the ministers. A king ought to set him- 
self entirely above party, and be at liberty to choose his 
ministers, irrespective of the party to which they belonged. 
It was easy for Bolingbroke to rail against party spirit ; 
he had tried it, and knew its hoUowness. The book, 
however, may be considered as having done some mis- 
chief because of the influence which it exercised on the 
mind of George III. Imbued with Bolingbroke's ideas, 
he made the attempt to be a king and above party, 
and the results of his interference with constitutional 
principles were not of such a character as to lead to its 
repetition. 



72 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1725 



CHAPTER XI. 

NEARLY A EUROPEAN WAR. 

In the last two years of the reign of George L, in spite 

of the King's and Walpole's pacific wishes, there was an 

imminent prospect of a great European war. 

Spain jj^ ^]^g £j.g|- place, the ambitious Oueen of 

Ripperda. . ^ 

Spain was still trying to secure the duchies 
of Parma and Piacenza for her son, Don Carlos. Alberoni 
had helped her in this project; but Alberoni was gone, 
and the duchies not secured. Her new minister was 
Ripperda, a Dutch adventurer, who had been secretary to 
a Dutch embassy in Spain, but had left it to obtain ad- 
vancement at the Spanish Court. He represented to the 
Queen (it is characteristic that it is the Queen, and not the 
King of Spain who seems to have all the power) that if he 
were sent on a secret mission to Vienna he could induce 
the Emperor to come into close relations with Spain. 

Whilst Ripperda's mission was still incomplete, the 
French Court insulted the Spanish. Some four years 

earlier it had been agreed that the young 
The Spanish French Kin^, Lewis XV., should marry a 

princess. °' ■' 

Spanish princess. The Infanta was then 
only four years old, and she was sent to France in order 
that she might receive French education and training. 
The Regent, the Duke of Orleans, stood next in succes- 
sion to the throne, and he was not unwilling that the 
King's marriage should be postponed until the young 
princess grew up. But the Duke of Orleans died of an 



A. D. 1725 Nearly a European War. 73 

illness brought on by his debauchery, and his successors in 
power thought it much better that the King should marry 
at once. The Spanish Infanta was therefore sent back to 
Spain with very scant courtesy. The greatest indignation 
was very naturally felt amongst the proud Spaniards, and 
the Queen is reported to have said to the French ambassa- 
dor, ' All these Bourbons are a race of devils — except your 
Majesty,' she added, turning to the King, reflecting that he 
was himself a Bourbon. In such a state of feeling Ripper- 
da's plan was carried out, and an alliance formed between 
the two old opponents, the King of Spain and the Emperor. 

Both the English and the Dutch were very angry, 
because the Emperor had given a charter to an Ostend 
East India Company to trade with India, 
and try to wrest some of the trade from those Company. 
two nations. The English and Dutch Gov- 
ernments pleaded that the establishment of this company 
was contrary to treaty, and threatened to seize the com- 
pany's ships. Spain, united by Ripperda to the Emperor, 
recognised the Ostend Company. It may be here added 
that the trade of this company never rose to importance. 

But there was a further understanding between Spain 
and the Emperor. It was proposed that Don Carlos 
should marry Maria Theresa, the Emperor's 

•' ^ Appanage 

elder daughter, and have the Italian duchies for Don 
Parma and Piacenza so that Austria's power 
should be strengthened in Italy. Russia also joined the 
alliance of Spain and the Emperor. 

Against this, therefore, it was held necessary to 
establish a counter league. England, France, and 
Prussia made together an alliance called the Treaty of 
Hanover, Holland, Sweden, and Denmark afterwards 
joined, Prussia, under Frederick William, however, was 
shortly afterwards won over to the side of the Emperor. 



74 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1725 

Troops were prepared on either side, and it seemed as if 
war was imminent. 

Meanwhile the French ministers found a wife for Lewis 
in the person of the daughter of Stanislaus 
LewirxV. Leczynski, the dethroned King of Poland. 
She is described as very amiable and gracious. 
The royal wedding was celebrated at Fontainebleau. The 
treaty of Hanover was signed, and this royal marriage 
took place in the same month, September 1725. It is 
said that the French ministers had at first wished that the 
bride should be an English princess. The King, it should 
be mentioned, was only fifteen. 

The expected war never came to much. On the part 
of England a fleet was sent, under Admiral Hosier, to 
blockade Porto Bello. But the admiral had 
strict orders from Walpole not to attack the 
place nor the Spanish ships unless they came out. It 
was generally thought in England that it would have 
been easy for Hosier's fleet to have captured Porto Bello, 
but the place was very unhealthy, and some three thou- 
sand English sailors died of fever. It was said that 
Hosier himself died of a broken heart. 

When in after years there was a desire to excite the 
English against Walpole and against Spain, a spirited 
ballad called ' Hosier's Ghost ' was written by the poet 
Glover, of which the following is one verse : — 

I, by twenty sail attended, 

Did this Spanish town affright : 
Nothing then its wealth defended 

But my orders not to fight. 
Oh ! that in this rolling ocean 

I had cast them with disdain, 
And obeyed my heart's warm motion 

To have quelled the pride of Spain. 



A.D. 1727 Death of George I. 75 

The only other incident of the war, which may be com- 
pared to a smouldering fire that never quite 
breaks into flame, for war was never de- G^ib^altar. 
clared, was an attack by the Spaniards on 
Gibraltar ; but they utterly failed in their attempt to re- 
take the place. Whilst the siege was continuing the 
Emperor deserted Spain, and Spain con- 
fessed a readiness to come to terms. The J^^.^^^ °^ 

Seville. 

treaty of Seville was the consequence, in 

which the English and French agreed that the two Italian 

duchies should pass to Don Carlos. 

The chief minister of France, Cardinal Fleury, was a 
man as earnest on behalf of peace as Walpole. Though 
he was over seventy when made minister, he held power 
for a long time — seventeen years — and secured for 
France a tranquillity and time of rest which she much 
needed. 



CHAPTER XII. 



DEATH OF GEORGE I. AND OF SIR ISAAC 

NEWTON. 

George L, long before he became King of England, 
married his cousin Sophia Dorothea of Zell, who is de- 
scribed as a young princess of great beauty. 
It was a marriage of policy, made in order ^ George I.' s 
to join her possessions to his. The wife was 
not kindly treated by her husband or her husband's fam- 
ily, so that she was tempted to receive the attentions of a 
Swedish nobleman, Count Konigsmark, who was stay- 
ing in Hanover. One day, when he was leaving her 
apartment, he was attacked and killed. George was 
absent with the army, and not privy to the attack, but he 
was convinced of his wife's guilt, and after obtaining a 



76 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1727 

divorce caused her to be shut up in the Castle of Ahlden, 
a castle in the midst of a desolate heath. The unhappy- 
princess was never allowed to go out even for air and 
exercise without a guard of horse soldiers with drawn 
swords. She never ceased to assert her innocence, es- 
pecially in a most solemn manner every time that she 
was about to receive the holy communion ; and many 
have been found to believe her assertion, but whether 
she was really guilty or innocent cannot be proved. For 
no less than thirty-two years the wretched woman lived 
in her desolate confinement, and died only a short time 
before her husband. Indeed, the story runs that just 
before she died she wrote a letter to the King, to be de- 
livered after her death by a trusty hand, once more de- 
claring her innocence, and citing him to appear within a 
year and a day before the throne of God. This letter 
could not safely be delivered in England, but was, so the 
story continues, given to the King on the next occasion 
that he came to Germany. 

Whether this summons had any effect on the King's 

mind or not, or whether, indeed, the whole story is not 

an invention, the King's death followed that 

Death of ^f ]-^jg yyjfg within seven months, and took 

George 1. 

place immediately after his next return to 
Germany. Apparently in his usual health, King George 
was, according to his custom, travelling from England to 
his beloved Hanover. He had entered Germany, and 
was posting in his travelling carriage, when he was sud- 
denly seized with a fit of apoplexy. The attendants pro- 
posed to stop and obtain medical assistance ; but the 
only remark that the dying King could utter was ' Osna- 
briick, Osnabriick ! ' so with all speed the horses galloped 
on. The Prince-Bishop of Osnabriick was the King's 
brother, and the King seemed to be anxious to see him 



A. D. 1727 Death of Sir Isaac Newton. jj 

once more. But before the carriage reached the town of 
Osnabriick, King George was dead. 

Earlier in the same year (1727) died Sir Isaac Newton, 
the most eminent Enghshman of his day, the most distin- 
guished mathematician and natural philoso- 
pher that the world has yet seen. He had at- ^ir Isaac 

■^ , ^ •' JNewton. 

tained a great age (eighty-four), for he was 
born near Grantham, in Lincolnshire, on Christmas Day 
1642, He was educated at the grammar school at Grant- 
ham and afterwards at Trinity College, Cambridge, of 
which college he became a fellow. A remarkable genius 
for mathematics led him at the early age of twenty-three 
to make important discoveries about the movements of 
planets. Subsequently, and while filling the chair of 
Professor of Mathematics in the University of Cambridge, 
he discovered the prismatic colours of light, and estab- 
lished the law of gravitation, which accounts for the fall 
of an apple to the ground as well as for the equilibrium 
of the universe. The story that this law was suggested 
to Newton by the fall of an apple does not rest on 
good authority. Pope wrote an intended epitaph on 
Newton : — 

Nature and Nature's laws lay hid in night : 
God said, * Let Newton be,' and all was light. 

Sir Isaac Newton was a member of the Convention 
Parliament, which seated William III. on the throne, 
and was afterwards Master of the Mint. He was made 
President of the Royal Society, and a couple of years 
later was knighted by Queen Anne. Newton's most 
famous works are the ' Treatise on Optics ' and the 
' Principia ' (more fully ' Philosophise Naturalis Principia 
Mathematica ' ) the doctrines of which were very quickly 
accepted by the learned. The character of Sir Isaac 



78 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1727 

Newton is almost faultless. The worst charge brought 
against him is that at times he was querulous, and at 
others suspicious. His modesty, patience, benevolence, 
earnest patriotism, genuine simple piety are features far 
more easily recognised. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

GEORGE II. AND QUEEN CAROLINE. 

Both the first Georges were men of mature age when 
they came to the throne. George I. was fifty-four, George 
II. forty -four. The latter had been born in 
Hanover in 1683, had been brought up and 
educated, as any other German prince might have been, 
for he had no expectation of the crown of England as 
his inheritance, as he was nearly a man when the Act of 
Settlement was passed. Of course he was trained to be a 
soldier — all the German princes were. He had the special 
advantage of serving under the great Duke of Marlbor- 
ough, and had distinguished himself for personal bravery 
at the battle of Oudenarde, where, perhaps, some English 
officers, with a thought for the future, turned their eyes 
towards the conduct of the Electoral Prince of Hanover. 
Some four years before the death of Queen Anne the 
Electoral Prince was made Duke of Cambridge, but the 
honour was titular only. The Queen, afraid lest in any 
way the spirit of worshipping the rising sun should 
spread, was very much opposed to the new duke's taking 
his seat in the House of Lords. On the accession of 
George I. his eldest son became Prince of Wales ; and by 
a strange fate, which seemed to affect the early Hano- 
verian kings, the son was always at variance with the 
father. 



A. D. 1727 George II. and Queen Caroline, 79 

The new King was in person short, and, Hke many- 
short men, proud and touchy. The pubhc called him 
* dapper,' a word which fits the description of 
him so well that one historian (Carlyle) always and*charac- 
speaks of ' Dapper George.' He was also very *^^- 
precise, his notion of soldiering requiring a strict atten- 
tion to small details of drill and uniforms ; Avhilst his 
mind always found room for minute questions of etiquette, 
for which he seems to have had the taste of a gentleman- 
usher. The Jacobite nickname for him was ' the Captain,' 
and he would certainly have made a better captain than 
general. There is no doubt about his bravery, nor about 
his love of justice and desire to do what was best for his 
kingdom and subj ects. Though, as a matter of fact, during 
his reign the English were left to govern themselves, and 
did not require much governing, George thought himself 
a heaven-born ruler. This feeling led him often to give 
free rein to the dictates of a violent temper, and some- 
times to make himself very ridiculous. 

It is recorded that when he was a little boy he had a 
fight with his cousin Frederick William, afterwards his 
brother-in-law, the second King of Prussia, 
and father of Frederick the Great. The future King Tf ' 
King of Prussia was also of arbitrary and Prussia. 
violent temper, but with more capacity, and, as an abso- 
lute monarch, with greater opportunities of using it. The 
two cousins had many instincts in common, such as the 
taste for trifles and details, especially when connected 
with soldiers ; but perhaps just on account of their simi- 
larity in tempers and tastes they hated each other sav- 
agely ; and the boyish battle, in which Frederick William 
gave his cousin George a bloody nose, was in after life 
followed by a definite challenge to fight a duel. This 
was some two years after George II.'s accession, and the 



8o The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1727 

reason some mere trifle that diplomacy could not at once 
settle. Inflamed by long previous resentment, the King 
of Prussia was the challenger ; and the ministers on 
either side had difficulty in preventing the ridiculous 
spectacle of the two Kings fencing with each other. 
They had nicknames for each other, which Carlyle thus 
translates : ' My brother, the Play Actor ' was the name 
for the King of England in the mouth of his brother of 
Prussia ; 'Arch-Sandbox-Beadle of the Holy Roman Em- 
pire ' was the retaliation. The one appeared all form 
and ceremony, the other a pedantic insister upon trifles. 

One curiously unkingly failing his Majesty had — ava- 
rice, and avarice not on the large scale such as might be 
worthier of a king. Henry VII. was said 
to suffer from avarice, but his was a careful 
husbanding of the kingdom's resources, especially of 
treasure in its coffers, from the conviction that a kingdom 
with its coffers full is stronger than a kingdom with an 
empty treasury. But George's avarice was rather that of 
a petty tradesman shown in a desire to handle and count 
money. ' If,' said a bold lady of the court once to him, ' if 
you count your money once more, I will leave the room.' 
George I. could not speak English at all, and had to 
transact business with his English ministers, except with 
one who, contrary to the usual custom, had 

He spoke learnt German, through the medium of in- 

bad Lngiish. ° 

different Latin. George II. had an advan- 
tage over his father in that he could speak English fluently, 
though, as courtiers remarked behind his back, not very 
grammatically, and with a strong German accent. Ac- 
cording to an eminent Lord Chamberlain of the period, 
the language of the court, of which he gives numerous 
specimens, consisted of French and broken English, 
helped out with an occasional word of German. 



A.D. 1728 George II. and Queen Caroline. 81 

The news of his father's death in Germany was 
brought to the new King by Sir Robert Walpole, the 
Prime Minister, whom the King hated, if for 
no other reason because he had been his 
father's Prime Minister. ' Dat is one big he,' is re- 
ported to have been the new King's answer to the news. 
The death of a sovereign nowadays would not of neces- 
sity cause the change of a ministry, but George II. 
practically dismissed Walpole by naming another to 
draw up the declaration which is made on his accession 
by a new king. The politician selected, who was the 
Speaker of the House of Commons, was so incompetent 
that he asked assistance from the very man whom he 
was superseding. Walpole courteously rendered the 
assistance, and in a few days he was reinstated in office. 

In trutK Walpole had a very powerful ally in the new 
Queen, who, far rather than the King, helped 
Walpole to govern England during the next CaroUne. 
ten years. Caroline of Anspach was prob- 
ably the most remarkable queen consort in English his- 
tory. Left an orphan and a portionless princess at an 
early age, she was brought up at the Court of Prussia ; but 
her beauty, her grace, and her mental gifts were such 
that many princes sought her hand in marriage. The 
Emperor himself was amongst her suitors, and it must be 
remembered to Caroline's credit, that she declined the 
honour solely because it would be necessary for her to 
change her religion. Possibly the suggestion would not 
even be made in the present day ; but then it was not 
every princess who would entertain so decided a religious 
scruple, for the wife that the Emperor succeeded in 
winning was a Protestant princess who went through 
the form of being converted in order to accept his offer. 
Caroline was both clever and wise. She could display 



82 The Early Hanoverians, A. d. 1728 

sweet temper and be pleasant and agreeable to all around ; 
but also her tongue could give utterance to the sharpest 
sarcasms and bitterest invectives. Her father-in-law, 
the late king, had latterly no name for her but ' she- 
devil.' There was not full scope for Caroline to show 
wisdom until she became Queen Consort. Though be- 
fore hostile to Walpole, she saw at once that he alone 
was then suited to be Prime Minister, and, suppressing 
all feeling of personal resentment, henceforward she 
became his friend and ally. The Queen combined a 
statesman's grasp of public questions with a woman's 
tact. By skilfully choosing opportunities and arguments 
she instilled notions into the King's mind in such a subtle 
way that he thought they were his own, and thus she was 
wont to govern the King without his knowing that he 
was being governed. So completely did the Queen pos- 
sess the highest art — that of concealing art — that George 
would even boast that other kings had been ruled by 
their wives or favourites, whereas he was every inch a 
king. Yet the public had formed a truer estimate of the 
position. A ballad of the day runs : — 

You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain ; 
We know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign — 
You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain. 
Then if you would have us fall down and adore you, 
Lock up your fat spouse, as your dad did before you. 

Against Queen Caroline's good qualities we must put 
the fact that her language, if witty, was often coarse and 
indelicate ; and, though it is some little excuse to say that 
the time was coarse, we should have expected Caroline, 
with her real superiority of mind, to have been better, 
not worse, than her age. So determined was she to 
govern the King that she displayed no jealousy whatever. 



A. D. 1728 George II. and Queen Caroline. 83 

even when he made love to other women. So invariable 
was her rule that no request made by the King was ever 
to be refused by her, that when she was suffering terrible 
agonies from gout in her feet she would dip her whole 
leg into cold water in order to go out and walk with him. 
This had the effect of driving the gout in, but at a great 
cost to her system ; and there is no doubt that the practice 
hastened her death. In such conduct there is some- 
thing heroic. Queen Caroline was a student of philoso- 
phy, and delighted in theological controversy. The 
ecclesiastical patronage in England was considerably 
influenced by her ; the promotion of Bishop Butler, the 
author of the ' Analogy,' stands to her credit. 

It is usual to speak contemptuously of George II., and 
especially of his indifference to literature and culture. 
It is only fair to remember that, acting upon 
the advice of his Hanoverian ministers, he ^'^i,Y5''?''^y 

01 Gottingen 

was the founder of the University of Gottin- 
.gen, which is properly called after him ' Georgia Augusta.' 
For a long time Gottingen held the highest rank among 
the universities of Germany, and though not now the first 
is still of considerable importance. The university was 
founded in order to prevent the Hanoverians going else- 
where for university education ; but to prevent the dead- 
ening influence of the clergy those who drew up the 
scheme of the foundation determined to keep the appoint- 
ment of all the professors in the hands of the Govern- 
ment. Absolute freedom was granted to professors in 
their lectures, and to students in their selection of courses. 
The ministers made it their pride to secure the very best 
men for the chairs, and during the eighteenth century 
some of the most eminent writers in Germany, in each 
department of knowledge, were amongst the Gottingen 
professors. 



84 The Early Hanovenans. A. D. 1736 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE PORTEOUS RIOTS. 

In April 1736 there came an unexpected trouble in Scot- 
land, the story of which is well known, as it has 

i^llG C3.L1SC 

been illuminated by the genius of Sir Walter 
Scott in his interesting novel, the ' Heart of Midlothian.' 
Two smugglers in Fife named Wilson and Robertson 
committed robbery with violence on the collector of cus- 
toms, and were in consequence sentenced to death. They 
nearly effected their escape from their prison in Edin- 
burgh, but Wilson, who was a fat man, stuck fast in the 
hole that had been made between the bars. Sorry that 
he had not allowed his thinner friend to escape first, Wil- 
son determined to give him another chance, and when on 
the Sunday before the execution the prisoners were being 
escorted to church by four soldiers, Wilson seized three 
of them, whilst Robertson shook off the fourth and 
escaped. For this act Wilson was much admired, and 
a fear was entertained that an attempt would be made to 
rescue him on the day of execution. To prevent this 
the city magistrates therefore ordered the City Guard to 
attend the execution. Now the City Guard, a sort of 
military police, was under the command of a violent and 
unpopular officer, Captain Porteous. The execution was 
not disturbed, but when it was over there was some stone- 
throwing on the part of the mob at the hangman and at 
the soldiers. The soldiers became angry, and fired, with 
such effect that they wounded or killed a good many per- 



A. D. 1736 The Forte ous Riots. 85 

sons in the crowd and in the surrounding houses, many of 
whom were quite innocent of offence. For this Porteous 
was tried for murder. He denied having given the order 
to fire, but some witnesses swore that they had seen him 
take a musket from a private, and himself fire. An Edin- 
burgh jury found him guilty of murder. It happened 
that at the time King George 11. was on the continent, 
and Queen Caroline was acting as regent. To the Queen 
and her ministers it did not seem that Captain Porteous 
was deserving of death, even though he had been mis- 
taken and exceeded the needs of legitimate defence. He 
was therefore reprieved. 

But the Edinburgh folk were made very angry at 
this reprieve, and they determined to take the law into 
their own hands. On the evening of the day 

The riot. 

before that which had been appointed for 
his execution, Porteous was entertaining his friends in 
the Tolbooth, the Edinburgh prison. Meanwhile a mob 
was collecting. It attacked the guard-house and secured 
arms, then marched upon the Tolbooth. The magis- 
trates tried to disperse them, but were unable ; the magis- 
trates, however, received no harm. When the rioters 
reached the prison they battered the gate, and not break- 
ing it down, at length set fire to it, until at last the gaoler 
flung them the keys. Whilst the other prisoners escaped, 
the rioters made solely for Porteous, whom they found 
hidden in the chimney of his room. They carried him 
to the usual place of execution, and there, having pro- 
cured a rope from a shop (and left a guinea to pay for it), 
they hanged him from a barber's pole. Then they 
quietly dispersed. Though the strictest inquiry was 
made no one was ever convicted of a share in this riot. 
It was generally believed that those concerned as leaders 
in the act of vengeance were not of so humble a class 



86 The Early Hanoveria7is. a.d. 1736 

in society as they appeared to be. But history knows 
nothing of them. Queen CaroHne was especially angry 
at the insult to her authority. The story goes that she 
said to a Scotch nobleman (Duke of Argyle) that rather 
than submit to such an insult she would make Scotland a 
' hunting-field,' ' In that case,' he replied with a low bow, 
' I will take my leave of your Majesty, and go down to my 
own country to get my hounds ready.' A bill was brqught 
into Parliament to punish the city of Edinburgh in various 
ways, but the punishment was ultimately reduced to a 
fine to be paid to the widow of Captain Porteous. 



CHAPTER XV. 

walpole'sfall. 

Sir Robert Walpole's son wrote of his father that he 
* loved power so much that he would not endure a rival.' 
, ^ , , , It may be said that it was this very quality 

W alpole s J i. J 

love of which led to his downfall. Those who might 

^°^^ ■ have been admitted into his ministry, and 

who would have brought strength to it, were refused ad- 
mittance, and joined the opposition. Those who joined 
Walpole for a while were driven from him because he 
did not consult his colleagues, and even interfered with 
their work. Thus gradually the opposition grew strong. 
At the beginning of Walpole's long rule there was hardly 
any opposition at all. The enemies of the King's minis- 
ters were few, discredited, disorganised. The majority 
of the people in England were either in favour of Wal- 
pole's policy of peace abroad and doing nothing {qiiieta 
non nwvere) at home, or indifferent to politics altogether. 
This state of the public mind may be said to have con- 
tinued about two-thirds of Walpole's time. Then a 



A.D. 1736 Walpoles Fall. 87 

formidable opposition began to gather, in which we can 
discern four separate elements — Jacobites and Tories, 
who may be regarded as the legitimate part of it, together 
with adherents of the Prince of Wales, and discontented 
Whigs for whom Walpole would find no room. 

The first battle which this opposition won was on the 
Excise Bill in 1733. Walpole was perfectly in the right in 
his proposal, which was to readjust the duties 

upon tobacco and wine. This excise had been Excise Bill, 

1733- 
introduced into England by the Long Parlia- 
ment just ninety years earlier, and it was borrowed by 
them from the Dutch. This origin of the scheme made 
it doubly hateful, and it certainly was very unpopular 
throughout England. Dr. Johnson, who published his 
' Dictionary ' some twenty years after this struggle, gave 
the following definition of excise : 'A hateful tax levied 
upon commodities, and adjudged not by the common 
judges of property, but wretches hired by those to whom 
excise is paid.' Every financier who has written upon the 
subject since has approved of Walpole's scheme; but the 
feeling throughout England, especially in London and 
the large towns, was so strong that Walpole bowed before 
the storm. Some think that the irritation might have 
led to a successful rebellion against the House of Bruns- 
wick. Though Walpole had a majority in the House he 
told his supporters that ' in the present inflamed temper 
of the people the act could not be carried into execution 
without an armed force,' and that 'he would not be the 
minister to enforce taxes at the expense of blood. 

In 1735 there appeared in Parliament, amidst the 
party at which Walpole scoffed as the Boy 
Patriots, a new member named William Wiiham 

Fitt. 

Pitt, who was then twenty-seven, and held a 
commission in the Horseguard Blues. His grandfather 



88 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1737 

had been Governor of Madras, and had acquired fame 
of a certain kind, because in India he had purchased the 
largest diamond then known, which he had afterwards sold 
at an enormous profit to the Regent for the King of France. 
Young Pitt had been educated at Eton, thence had gone 
to Oxford, but had to leave Oxford suffering from the 
gout, which plagued him at intervals all his life through. 
For the good of his health Pitt travelled through France 
and Italy, and on his return to England took his commis- 
sion in the Blues, and shortly afterwards entered Parlia- 
ment as one of the members for Old Sarum. This was 
one of the 'pocket boroughs' abolished by the Great 
Reform Bill, and may indeed be described as the one 
most frequently attacked, and the greatest scandal of the 
old system ; for at the time of the Reform Bill there was 
not a single resident in Old Sarum, and the two members 
were elected by a single property holder. This property 
had been bought by Pitt's grandfather. 

Pitt is described as tall and manly, very dignified, 
with a keen eye, and a wonderful voice. This was full 
and clear, audible in a whisper, and when 
pearaiK;e and raised filling the Housc with the volume of 
eloquence. -^.^ gound. All accounts of his oratory agree 

that it was marvellous and carried away all hearers. No 
doubt he was much stronger in invective and sarcasm 
than in reasoning. His studied speeches were not con- 
sidered equal to his spontaneous efforts. 

After Pitt's maiden speech Walpole is said to have 
remarked, 'We must muzzle that terrible cornet of horse.' 
The first muzzle tried was an ofter to help Pitt to pro- 
motion if he would retire from Parliament ; the second 
was his dismissal from the army. But Walpole had at last 
found a man neither to be bribed nor daunted. Some 
years afterwards the old Duchess of Marlborough, in 



A. D. 1742 Walpoles Fall. . 89 

admiration of his political conduct, left Pitt a legacy of 
10,000/. 

It is characteristic that his dismissal by the King and 
his minister was the signal for Pitt's appointment to a 
place in the household of the Prince of Wales. 
Until our own day it has been said that each Prince^ot ' 
Prince of Wales in turn has been in opposi- Wales. 
tion. George II. opposed his father, and perhaps it was 
but natural that his son should oppose him. Frederick, 
Prince of Wales, hated his parents as much as they 
hated him. Nothing could be stronger than the language 
employed about him by his mother. 'My dear Lord,' 
wrote Queen Caroline, in no measured terms, ' I v/ill give 
it you under my hand if you are in any fear of my re- 
lapsing, that my dear first-born is the greatest ass, and the 
greatest liar, and the greatest canaille, and the greatest 
beast in the whole world, and that I heartily wish he was 
out of it.' This is violent language, especially from a 
mother. But the spirit of it was perhaps justified. It 
was merely to irritate the King, and not from any political 
views, that the Prince of Wales made his court the centre 
of opposition to Walpole as the King's minister. 

At the end of 1737 Walpole lost his best friend by the 
death of this very Queen Caroline. On her death-bed, 
amidst much good advice that she gave her 
husband, she strong-ly recommended him to Death of the 

'^ ■' Queen. 

support Walpole. She had herself been a 
friend to Walpole's administration from the beginning of 
the reign. In her faults as well as in her virtues there 
was a similarity between the minister and the Queen — an 
element of coarseness, a cynical contempt for others, 
together with a resolute determination to maintain peace 
and to govern wisely and humanely. In the years that were 
coming King George had reason to regret his wife. 



90 The Early Ha7iove?ians. A. D. 1742 

Walpole at length succumbed to the united attacks of 
the opposition. The particular question was the war with 
„, , , , Spain.the causes ofwhich and of the wider con- 

Walpole s ^ 

resignation, tincntal war are described in detail a little later 
^"^ ■ in this volume. The greatest mistake of Wal- 
pole's life was yielding to the clamour,.and declaring war. 
It is doubtful if this yielding even postponed his downfall. 
He fought gallantly to the last, his love of power inspiring 
him ; but when a general election placed him in a minority 
in the House of Commons, and his friends urged him to 
retire, he tendered his resignation to the King. It is said 
that the King was so much moved on accepting the resig- 
nation that he fell on Walpole' s neck, wept, and kissed 
him. This was in January 1742. 

Walpole accepted a pension of 4,000/. a year and a 
peerage. As Earl of Orford he lived yet three years 
amid the country pleasures that he loved so well. 



A. D. 1699 The Turks. 91 



BOOK II. 
THE WARS. 



CHAPTER I. 

THE TURKS. 

Section I. — First War. 

The period of which this volume treats may be said 
ahuost to open with a war, though httle notice of it is taken 
in our histories as a war in which England 
had no part. Not only in our own day has Turks m 

^ ■' ■' iLurope. 

there been an Eastern Question. The Turks 
were always regarded by our ancestors as intruders in 
Europe. It is a little more than 500 years since they first 
appeared, and we now seem reconciled to their presence. 
During this long period there have been great fluctuations 
in their power. But on the whole we may say that, up to 
the seventeenth century, their power was advancing ; from 
that period it has been receding. We may select as the 
culminating point of their power their famous siege of 
Vienna in 1683. Their boundary line was then not more 
than a hundred miles from Vienna, the imperial city. 

John Sobieski, the King of Poland, an old opponent of 
the Turks, came to the rescue of the Emperor. With a tre- 
mendous charge he overthrew the Turks and 
put them to headlong flight. All their belong- 
ings fell into his hands. It is no wonder that the people 



tj)2 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 17 18 

of Vienna were prepared almost to worship their dehverer. 

In the imperial army, which under Sobieski 

^p^<^^ thus won the day, was a younsf officer of the 

liugene. j j <d 

age of twenty, a cadet of the House of Savoy, 
who in that war was serving his first campaign. Prince 
Eugene was amongst the first to carve his way through 
the serried ranks of the Turks. A great part of a life 
spent in fighting was to be devoted to fighting against 
them. During the fourteen years that followed the 
deliverance of Vienna the war with Turkey continued, 
until Eugene himself, finally defeating them in the 
great battle of Zenta, was able to put an end to the war 
by the treaty of Carlowitz, which freed Hungary entirely 
from the Turks with the exception of the Bannat of 
Temeswar. It is said that Lewis XIV. had instigated 
the Turks to invade Austria. At any rate, by the cessa- 
tion of the war the Emperor was free to take his part in 
the War of the Spanish Succession, in which Eugene, 
who in the Turkish War had made himself the first 
general of the empire, continued to win laurels. No 
sooner had the peace of Utrecht finished that war than 
the Turkish War broke out again. 

Whilst the Turks were still staggering under the 
blow dealt them at Vienna, it was promptly followed by 
another from the republic of Venice. Venice 
the^Turks. once had such dominion over the lands be- 
yond the Adriatic and in the Levant that it 
seems hardly exaggeration in the poet Wordsworth to say 
that she had ' held the gorgeous East in fee.' In the year 
that followed the deliverance of Vienna the Venetians 
conquered the Morea from the Turks. For the Greek 
inhabitants this was not freedom, but a change of 
masters ; it was, however, a change from Turk to 
Christian. 



A. D. 1699 The Turks. 93 

The treaty of Carlowitz was made under the media- 
tion of Ensfland and Holland, these two „ 

=> Peace ot 

powers wanting the hands of the empire to Carlowitz, 
be free. By their law the Turks were not al- 
lowed to make peace with any Christian power ; they 
could only make truces, and this truce was for twenty-five 
years. But, peace or truce, the Turks had to acknow- 
ledge that Hungary belonged to Austria and the Morea 
to Venice. Meanwhile the Turks had also been at war 
with Russia, but had not been successful, so that a year 
or two later on, making truce with Russia, they left her 
Azof — now, indeed, an unimportant town, with its har- 
bour silted up, but valued by Peter the Great for Russia 
as giving her access to the Black Sea. 

It is necessary to remember these earlier facts in order 
to understand the war that broke out immediately after 
the peace of Utrecht. Fifteen years had „. 

^ _ -' War against 

passed since the treaty of Carlowitz ; the Turks after, 
Turks had been gathering strength, and were 
prepared to renew the conflict. They began with Russia, 
and succeeded in winning back Azof. This success they 
followed up with the reconquest of the Morea from Venice, 
whereupon the Emperor determined to join Venice in 
resisting their further advance ; and the sword of Eugene, 
which the treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt had set free, 
was employed once more against the Turks. 

The first great battle took place at Peterwaradin. 
Eugene's troops were mostly veteran soldiers with long 
experience in fighting in the Netherlands and 
elsewhere. In his earlier wars against the te?"a^radin^' 
Turks he had reason to complain of the bad 
treatment of his troops by the Government, the lack of 
money, the lack of provisions ; but now his army was 
splendidly appointed. As compared with the force of the 



94 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1718 

Turks it was small — not in larger proportion than one to 
three. Eugene was advised by his officers to make up 
for his small numbers by putting his men behind fortifi- 
cations ; but he had too much confidence in his soldiers, 
and they in him, to waste time in that way. Eugene 
has been described as like a fury in the day of battle. 
With zealous enthusiasm he dashed upon the enemy, and 
in much less than half a day had routed 

August s, them, taken their standards, their artillery, 

1716. . - , 

and an enormous quantity of booty. The 

Grand Vizier, who was himself commanding the Turkish 
troops, fell in the battle. The immediate result of this 
battle was that the Bannat of Temeswar, the only part of 
Hungary yet under the Turks, was freed from their rule. 
A more wide-reaching result was that the victorious career 
of the Turks was checked. Princes and noble volunteers 
flocked to Eugene's camp. The liveliest interest was 
everywhere felt in his victories, and the hope was enter- 
tained that he might drive the Turks out of Europe. 
The Greek inhabitants of the countries held in subjec- 
tion by the Turks held eager hands out to him as to a 
deliverer. 

In June 17 17 Prince Eugene invested Belgrade, that 

unfortunate border city which from its position seemed to 

invite contest between Turks and Christians ; 

Siege of it may be called the key of Hungary, and 

Belgrade. i -i i i 

from one side or the other has stood seven 
sieges. The Imperiahsts had not carried on the siege 
more than six weeks when an enormous Turkish army, 
under the new Grand Vizier, came up to relieve the city. 
Strong in numbers, the Turks advanced close to Eugene's 
lines, and his army was indeed in a critical position. His 
besieging force was weakened by sickness occasioned by 
the damp ground on which they had been encamped, 



A. D. 1 718 The Turks. 95 

and he had not more than 40,000 to oppose to some 
200,000 fresh Turkish troops ; yet he saw that boldness 
was the best pohcy, and he determined without delay to 
attack the new army. It was about fifteen days after it 
had taken up its position. At midnight Eugene's troops 
started, but the attack in the early morning v/as partly 
helped and partly hindered by a mist which concealed 
the whole battlefield. There was held on the one hand 
in that for some time the advance was hidden from the 
enemy until the Imperialists were close to them ; there 
was hindrance on the other evident when, as the mist 
cleared at about eight o'clock, Eugene saw that, though 
his wings were conquering, there was a great gap in the 
centre of his line, and through this gap the Turks were 
preparing to press. Eugene ordered up his reserve and 
himself charged at the head of it ; then, whilst a fearful 
infantry fight ensued between his reserve and the Janis- 
saries, he sent orders to his nearest cavalry regiments to 
charge on the flank of the latter. This gave him the 
victory, together with trophies of every kind — prisoners, 
cannon, standards, booty ; moreover within a week Bel- 
grade capitulated. 

It seems almost a pity that Eugene did not follow up 
his great successes and drive the Turks out of Europe, or 
at least, by wresting more from them, confine 
them within narrower limits. It might have Peace of 

^ _ Passarowitz. 

been possible to have won for Austria the 
whole Danube valley down to the river mouth ; but 
Austria was weakened by the strain of her long wars, and 
Eugene had perforce to be content with his achievements. 
The peace of Passarowitz, which ended the war, secured 
to Austria such portion of Hungary as was not already 
hers, the Bannat of Tcmeswar, together with the town of 
Belgrade and portions of Bosnia, Servia, and Wallachia. 



96 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 173' 

The Turks, however, retained the Morea, and Venice, 
their old enemy, was unable ever again to make head 
against them. This treaty of Passarowitz (1718) was also- 
only a truce for twenty-five years, and peace lasted less 
than twenty ; but when the war broke out again the gal- 
lant Eugene was no longer alive to defeat his old oppo- 
nents. Austria had reason to lament his loss. 

Section II. — The Second War. 

The English Ambassador at Vienna wrote to England 

shortly after the death of Prince Eugene : ' During the 

two last years of his life even the remainder 

Death of Qf what he had been kept things in some 

order, as his very Yes or No, during his 

sounder age, had kept them in the best.' 

The Prince died in 1736, and it was very soon seen that 
in him the only general of the Austrians was lost, whilst 
. , ^ the War Office at Vienna had returned to its 

After Eu- 
gene, old and shameful condition. The influence 

of the Jesuits was too strong at the court ; but 
still greater harm was done by the incompetence of the 
ministers, who allowed capable and unscrupulous under- 
lings to manage the departments for their own interests. 
Yet the Emperor, believing that everything was going on 
well, and that his war machine was in perfect order, rashly 
determined on joining Russia in a war against the Turks. 
To this the priests encouraged him ; but the chief com- 
mand of the army in spite of them was given to a Protest- 
ant general — Seckendorf — whom Eugene had himself 
selected. Had Seckendorf found an army well provided, 
it is more than probable that he would have justified 
Eugene's confidence. He reported that all the frontier 
fortresses were ' dilapidated and incapable of the smallest 
resistance ; ' he described his men as ' miserable and half- 



A. D. 1737 The Turks. 97 

starved wretches.' There were not as many troops as 
represented ; the right amount for their pay was not sent. 
In consequence of Eugene's easy victories the people at 
Vienna despised their enemy ; but Eugene had an army 
of veterans, and had influence to see that they were 
adequately provided. Just as Seckendorf had made pre- 
parations to open the campaign he received an order from 
the Emperor to commence it in a different part ; this 
involved a march of twenty-eight days under a July sun. 
Nor was this the only interference of which he had to 
complain. The unfortunate man was only in appearance 
commander-in-chief; operations were really being man- 
aged from Vienna and by thoroughly incompetent men. 
The result was that after a series of disasters Seckendorf 
was recalled and the whole blame cast upon him. The 
Jesuits said that the failure was natural because Secken- 
dorf was a Protestant. He was put under arrest and kept 
in imprisonment. 

On the renewal of hostilities at the beginning of the 
next year (1737) the command was given to the Emper- 
or's son-in-law, the Duke of Lorraine, a young 
man of thirty ; but he was to do nothing puke of 

-' ' _ ° L,orraine. 

without the advice of a majority in a council 
of war. The Duke gained a slight success at first, which 
was hailed with great joy in Vienna, but this was very 
soon turned into mourning by the defeat of the Duke. 
The Turks attacked with great spirit and drove the 
Imperialists back. The Imperialist army also suffered a 
great deal from sickness. The victory of the Turks was 
followed up, and the Imperialists were shut up in Bel- 
grade. The Emperor was in great distress about this 
retreat of his troops upon Belgrade, and used to exclaim, 
' Is the fortune of my empire departed with Eugene ? ' 

In the next year Belgrade was ceded to the Turks under 

H 



gS The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1739 

circumstances disgraceful to the Emperor, to his ministers, 

and to the generals whom he employed. 

Loss of Yhe soldiers were anxious to fight and 

Belgrade. ^ 

were indignant at the surrender, but the 
Emperor was convinced by the defeats which he had 
suffered that he had no hope of prevailing against the 
Turks. He abandoned his ally Russia, who only ob- 
tained a condition that Azof should be demohshed and 
occupied neither by Russians nor Turks, whilst the 
Russians gave up all claim to the navigation of the Black 
Sea. 
By the peace of Belgrade (1739) ^^^ Emperor practi- 
cally ceded all that had been gained at the 
Peace of peacc of Passarowitz. The fortune of the em- 

Belgrade. ^ 

pire had departed with the great Eugene. 



CHAPTER II. 

POLISH SUCCESSION WAR. 

In 1733 began a war, which raged for about two years, 
involving most of the nations of Europe ; not perhaps im- 
portant in its details, but in several respects 
?e°Jsion wtr, important in its results. Owing to Walpole's 
^733- pacific policy England kept aloof from it. It 

is called the War of the Polish Succession, and stands 
between two wars with a similar name, that of the Spanish 
Succession at the beginning of the century, and that of 
the Austrian Succession which was to come in another 
seven years. A difference, however, may be noted be- 
tween the Polish difficulty and the causes of the other 
two wars : Spain and Austria were countries in which the 
usual law of succession was to follow the hereditary rule. 
Trouble only came because of the failure in the two 



A. D. 1733 Polish Succession War. 99 

lines of Hapsburg princes. But Poland was an elective 

monarchy. Now an elective monarchy is in 

theory the best of all forms of monarchy, if not Elective 

■' _ _ -' monarchy. 

of government, by the side of which heredit- 
ary monarchy seems ridiculous. Opponents of the latter 
laugh at the idea of transferring a people like a flock of 
sheep or goats ; by contrast they maintain that elective 
monarchy allows a nation to choose its fittest man and 
entrust the reins of government to him. As a matter of 
fact, hereditary monarchy has been found to work 
smoothly, elective monarchy to be always fruitful in dis- 
cord. In Poland not only were the elections themselves 
scenes of the grossest disorder, but the defeated candi- 
dates used to raise up factions. Civil war was the com- 
mon sequel of an election to the crown. Foreign powers 
interfered, doing their utmost to influence an election. 
The trouble in 1733 was perhaps the worst of the disturb- 
ances that arose out of a vacancy in the throne of Poland ; 
it was by no means the only trouble of the kind. 

Early in the year died Augustus the Strong, Elector 
of Saxony and King of Poland. In view of his death Aus- 
tria and Russia had been previously making 
agreement to act in concord. They were will- Election to 
ing to take a candidate from a distant nation 
as least dangerous, and they had chosen the Infant of Port- 
ugal — a title used in Spain and Portugal to mean any son 
of the king except the eldest. But when the king died it 
seemed that France also was determined to have a voice 
in the election. Now there was living in France, or rather 
in Alsace, which at this time belonged to France, a former 
King of Poland. Stanislaus Leczynski was a Polish 
nobleman who had been elected King of Poland nearly 
thirty years earlier, through the influence of Charles XII. 
of Sweden. Stanislaus was only twenty-seven, and an 



loo The Early Hajtoverians. a.d. 1733 

objection was taken that he was too young; but Charles 
silenced it with the remark, 'He is as old as I am,' 
But after this election came the battle of Pultowa, and 
the defeat of Charles by Peter the Great. Whexi his 
supporter's fortune was no longer in the ascendent, Stanis- 
laus was driven from his kingdom. Whilst he was living 
in retirement, the French ministers fixed upon his daughter 
to be the consort of the French King, after the dismissal 
of the Spanish Infanta. Royal blood was necessary, 
and the five years during which Stanislaus had been 
king were sufficient to make his blood royal. Doubt- 
less, however, his insignificance weighed with the minis- 
ters, who thought he would not give trouble. This daugh- 
ter had been Queen Consort of France some eight years 
now, and either the French ministers had become less 
pacific or the King threw his weight into his father-in- 
law's scale, as France determined to press for the elec- 
tion of Stanislaus Leczynski as successor to Augustus the 
Strong. When the election was held the influence of 
France and the popularity of the idea of electing a na- 
tive Pole prevailed. Stanislaus was elected. Within 
ten days of his election a large Russian army appeared 
at the gates of Warsaw, and Stanislaus had to take to 
flight. The Russians maintained that they had come to 
support freedom of election ; in reality Austria and Rus- 
sia had by this time agreed to support Augustus, Elector 
of Saxony, the son of the last king. Of the two candi- 
dates, there is no doubt which the Poles preferred ; but 
Augustus, elected by a minority under the auspices of 
the Russian army, remained King of Poland for a space 
of thirty years. 

This was the cause of the War of the Polish Succes- 
sion, Russia and the Emperor were on the side of Augus- 
tus of Saxony. Russia confined herself to the Polish side 



A. D. 1733 Polish Succession War. loi 

of the war — secured Poland, the nominal bone of con- 
.tention, and besieged Stanislaus in Dantzig, 
from which town he was with difficulty able ?'^t^ "^^^^^ 

■' _ in the war. 

to escape. Various princes of the empire 
supported the Emperor, but very lukewarmly. Frederick 
William of Prussia was one, but he did not send more 
than the contingent prescribed by the law of the empire. 
Had he taken up the war vigorously, the result might 
have been different. On the other side were France, 
Spain and Savoy. It is advisable to consider the motive 
of each of these : France was anxious for Lorraine. If 
we look at the map of France it is evident there is a 
curious hollow between Alsace and France. The duchy 
of Lorraine separates them. Whether France had this 
duchy from the first in view, or whether, finding that the 
maintenance of Stanislaus on the Polish throne was im- 
possible, she made the best bargain for her- 
self, is uncertain. But as the war went on mentsa^end 
France made it her condition of assent to °^ ^^'^• 
the election of Augustus — that the duchy of Lorraine 
should be given to Stanislaus, and upon his death be in- 
corporated with France. This condition was finally 
accepted, and Lorraine remained joined to France until 
the greater part was with Alsace taken away again after 
the Franco-Prussian War of 1 870. This demand of France 
came specially hard upon the Emperor because the Duke 
of Lorraine was the betrothed husband of his elder 
daughter, Maria Theresa. In order that Francis might 
not remain a ' duke without a duchy ' it was determined 
at the conclusion of the war that he should have the 
Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which opportunely fell vacant 
(July 1737). Spain and Savoy joined in the war with a 
view to spoils that could be wrested from the Emperor in 
Italy. To the Queen-mother of Spain the war proved 



I02 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1735 

the crowning stroke of her favourite poHcy. She had 
disturbed the peace of Europe in order to procure an 
appanage for her son Don Carlos. In taking part with 
the French she chose her side wisely ; and the result was 
that her son became King of the two Sicilies, in which 
position his descendants continued until in 1859 the heroic 
Garibaldi swept the dynasty away, joining the south to 
the kingdom of the north, making a great advance 
towards a united Italy. The King of Sardinia, formerly 
Duke of Savoy, who also gained by joining France in 
this war, was the ancestor of King Victor Emmanuel, 
who in our own time became King of a united Italy. 

The war, the results of which have thus been indicated, 
lasted two years, during which there was fighting in Italy, 
which formed the more important part of the 
^f tlf^"% war, and in Germany. In the Italian cam- 
paigns the Emperor had very much the worst 
of it. The war came upon Austria in a very unprepared 
condition. The German campaigns in the Rhine valley 
are memorable chiefly because Prince Eugene was for 
part of the time commander-in-chief of the imperial forces, 
and Frederick, the Crown Prince of Prussia, afterwards 
Frederick the Great, served in his camp. Eugene was 
growing old, being over seventy, but probably that would 
not have prevented his former great qualities as a general 
showing forth ; but he was abominably provided, receiv- 
ing recruits instead of veteran soldiers, and no supplies. 
Frederick in after days wrote that Eugene's inaction of 
this time was as honourable to him as his earlier victories. 
This war may be said to have ended with the signing 
at Vienna of the preliminaries of peace in 
Peace of Octobcr 17315. It took some years before the 

Vienna. ... 

definitive treaties were arranged and signed. 
By the last of these treaties, signed three years later. 



A.D. 1739 Jenkins' Ear. 103 

France agreed to guarantee the Pragmatic Sanction ; and 
within two years more had, on the Emperor's death, in- 
continently broken the said guarantee. 

Augustus remained King of Poland for thirty years. 
He was elected October 5, 1733, and died on the same 
day in the year which ended the Seven Years' War. In 
less than nine years from his death took place the first 
partition of Poland. 

Stanislaus lived quietly as Duke of Lorraine, and met 
with his death at a great age (eighty-nine) in 1766, when 
he was burnt to death through an accident. At his death 
Lorraine was united to France. 



CHAPTER HL 

JENKINS' EAR, 



In spite of Walpole's love of peace, and determined 
efforts to preserve it, in the year 1739 a war broke out 
with Spain, which is an illustration of the 

, , . . , Jenkins' ear. 

saymg that the occasion 01 a war may be 
trifling, though its real cause be very serious. The war 
is often called the War of Jenkins' Ear. The story ran 
that eight years before (1731) a certain Captain Jenkins, 
skipper of the ship ' Rebecca,' of London, had been mal- 
treated by the Spaniards. His ship was sailing from 
Jamaica, and hanging about the entrance of the Gulf of 
Florida, when it was boarded by the Spanish coastguard. 
The Spaniards could find no proof that Jenkins was 
smuggling, though they searched narrowly, and being 
angry at their ill-success they hanged him to the yard- 
arm, lowering him just in time to save his life. At length 
they pulled off his ear and told him to take it to his king. 
To this Pope alludes in the couplet — 



I04 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1739 

And own the Spaniard did a waggish thing 
Who cropped our ears and sent them to the King. 

Much discredit has been thrown on this story. No less 
a man than Burke described it as 'a fable,' and naturally 
the peace party wished that it should be so 
true r ^ °^^ regarded. One writer says that when Jenkins 
died it was found that his ear had never been 
cut off at all. Another says that it was in the pillory that 
Jenkins lost the ear, which he carried about with him 
wrapped in cotton wool. 

But it is quite certain that the story was given in 
the London newspapers of the day on the return of the 
' Rebecca ' to that port. What is more extraordinary is 
that the story when first told made but little stir. Seven 
years later Captain Jenkins was examined by the House 
of Commons, on which occasion some member asked 
him how he felt when being maltreated, and Jenkins 
answered, ' I recommended my soul to God and my cause 
to my country.' The answer, whether made at the time 
or prepared for use in the House of Commons, touched 
a chord of sympathy, and soon was circulated through 
the country. ' No need of allies now,' said one politician ; 
' the story of Jenkins will raise us volunteers.' 

The truth of the matter is that this story from its some- 
what ridiculous aspect has remained in the minds of 
men, but that it is only a specimen of many 
of the Span- storics then afloat, all pointing to insolence of 
ish War. Spaniards in insisting upon what was after 

all strictly within their rights. But the legal treaty rights 
of Spain were growing intolerable to Englishmen, though 
not necessarily to the English Government ; and traders 
and sailors were breaking the international laws which 
practically stopped the expansion of England in the New 
World. 



A. D. 1739 Jenkins Ear. 105 

The war arose out of a question of trade, in this as in 
so many other cases the Enghsh being prepared to fight 
in order to force an entrance for their trade, which the 
Spaniards wished to shut out from Spanish America. 
This question found a place amongst the other matters 
arranged by the treaty of Utrecht, when the Enghsh 
obtained ahnost as their sole return for their victories 
what was known as the Assiento. This is a 
Spanish word meaning contract, but its use T^^ . 

^ . Assiento. 

had been for some time confined to the dis- 
graceful privilege of providing Spanish America Avith 
negroes kidnapped from their homes in Africa. The 
Flemings, the Genoese, the Portuguese, and the French 
Guinea Company received in turn from Spanish kings 
the monopoly in this shameful traffic, which at the treaty 
of Utrecht was passed on for a period of thirty years to 
England, now becoming mistress of the seas, and with 
her numerous merchant ships better able than others to 
carry on the business. The English Government com- 
mitted the contract to the South Sea Company, and the 
number of negroes to be supplied annually was no less 
than 4,800 * sound, healthy, merchantable negroes, two- 
thirds to be male, none under ten or over forty years old.' 
In the Assiento Treaty there was also a provision for the 
trading of one English ship each year with Spanish 
America ; but in order to prevent too great advantage 
therefrom it was carefully stipulated that the ship should 
not exceed 600 tons burden. There is doubt that this 
stipulation was regularly violated by the English sending 
a ship of the required number of tons, but with it numer- 
ous tenders and smaller craft. Moreover smuggling, being 
very profitable, became common ; it was of this smuggling 
that Captain Jenkins was accused. The Spaniards to stop 
the smuggling exercised their undoubted right of search. 



lo6 The Early Hanoverians. A.D. 1739 

and put all whom they could prove to have smuggled into 
loathsome dungeons. There is little doubt that the Span- 
ish sailors were often guilty of undue violence. By 1738, 
the year when Jenkins was examined in the House of 
Commons, all England was ringing with stories of atro- 
cities. In various public places sailors returned from 
captivity took up their station with specimens of the nasty 
food given to them in Spanish prisons. 

Doubtless the politicians that opposed Walpole, and 
favoured the idea of war, aggravated the stories, in them- 
selves bad, and not without foundation. Wal- 

vV 3.r QG~ 

dared Octo- pole, always anxious for peace, by argument, 
ber 1739. i^y negotiation, by delays, resisted the growing 

desire for war ; at length he could resist no longer. For 
the sake of his reputation he should have resigned office, 
but he had enjoyed power too long to be ready to yield 
it, and most unwisely he allowed himself to be forced into 
a declaration of war October 19, 1739. 

The news was received throughout England with a 

perfect frenzy of delight. The church bells were ringing 

joyful peals — a strange use for church bells ! — 

and Walpole is said to have remarked, ' They 

may ring the bells now — before long they will be wringing 

their hands ! ' 

A year and a day after this declaration of war an 
event occurred — the death of the Emperor — which helped 
to swell the volume of this war until it was 
comes much merged into the European war, called the War 
larger. q£ ^^ Austrian Succession, which includes 

within itself the First and Second Silesian Wars, between 
Austria and Frederick the Great of Prussia. The Euro- 
pean war went on until the general pacification in the 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748. Within another ten years 
war broke out again on somewhat similar grounds, but 



A.D. 1740 Jejikiii^'' Ear. 107 

on a much wider scale and with the combatants differ- 
ently arranged, under the title ' Seven Years' War.' 

The events of this year, whilst the war was only be- 
tween Spain and England, were the attacks on Spanish 
settlements in America, the capture of Porto Bello, and 
the failure before Cartagena, which led to Anson's famous 
voyage. 

War being declared with Spain, the question remained 
in what way Spain should be attacked. There were two 
strongholds belonging to Spain between North and South 
America — Cartagena, the stronger, which is 
at the north of South America, and Porto f.^P^^'^f, °,f 

' Porto Bello. 

Bello, on the Isthmus of Panama. It was de- 
termined to make an attempt on each of these. Unfortu- 
nately, during the long peace, all the fighting machinery 
had been allowed to rust. Walpole had not acted on the 
principle, 'If you wish for peace prepare for war,' but in 
his zeal for economy had permitted the naval dockyards 
to fall into disorder, whilst all army arrangements were yet 
worse. One of these two places was not difficult to take. 
Admiral Vernon appeared before it with six ships, made 
assault, and the place was surrendered on the second 
day. This victory was very popular in England. There 
are still places in Great Britain called Porto Bello which 
were named in the midst of the public joy; and the joy 
was increased by the following circumstance. In the 
heat of debate in Parliament, Vernon, a bluff and trouble- 
some member sitting on the opposition side, had said, 
' Give me six ships, and I will take the place.' Many had 
thought this force insufficient, and that he ought not to 
have been taken at his word ; and it was supposed that 
the ministers wanted to be rid of him, and rather hoped 
he would fail. 

But the far more important enterprise was the attempt 



io8 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. i7/;o 

on Cartagena, for which Vernon found that it would be 

necessary to have soldiers as well as ships. 

Attack on p^ very larg-e force was therefore prepared — 

Cartagena. -■ o r r 

twenty-five ships of the line and eighty trans- 
ports, carrying about 7,000 soldiers and marines. But owing 
to the backwardness of preparations this force was at least 
four months too late, and instead of leaving England at 
mid-summer, as had been designed, did not sail for the 
Tropics until November. In addition a small fleet was 
sent, under Commodore Anson, with instructions to sail 
round Cape Horn and to make attack on the Spanish 
possessions in Central America from the Pacific side at 
the same time as Vernon from the Atlantic. Such a 
scheme required punctuality in its performance. Anson's 
voyage became famous in other ways, but it did not in 
any way coincide with the attack on Cartagena. The 
whole expedition was as unfortunate in its later issues as 
it was unpunctual in its commencement. The original 
commander-in-chief died on the voyage out, and the 
general who took his place was not only utterly unfit for 
the command, but did not agree with Vernon. Far from 
co-operating, the general and Admiral Vernon were soon 
in open quarrel. In a spirit of pique the latter main- 
tained that his business was only to bring the soldiers to 
the place, theirs to take it. Meanwhile the very climate 
was fighting against the English in the shape of drench- 
ing tropical rains, for the delays had brought them to the 
tropics at a wrong season. Within ten days from the 
disembarkation of the troops, and after one most des- 
perate but perfectly hopeless attempt, the men were 
taken back to their transports. The mortality is some- 
thing terrible to consider. In three diys from the land- 
ing the numbers were reduced from 6,645 to 3.200 effect- 
ive men. To this must be added that the sick and 



A. D, 1740 Jenkins' Ear. 109 

wounded were most abominably tended. It happens that 
one who became in after days a famous Enghsh author, 
Tobias Smollett, was a surgeon's mate -on board one of 
these ships. He has left an account of the whole expedi- 
tion, but especially of this part which concerned his own 
business ; and he adds that, because of the rancour 
between the chiefs, surgeons from the men-of-war were 
not permitted to attend the sick soldiers in the trans- 
ports. It is certainly difficult to imagine such a desper- 
ate pass, or that if matters really reached such a state no 
punishment whatever should ensue. The Cartagena 
expedition was not only a complete but a shameful 
failure. 

This war between England and Spain did not end 
until the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), but for the 
remainder of the time it was carried on in a very desul- 
tory manner. There was no more fitting out of great 
expeditions ; it almost seemed as if the Government 
on either side had no further concern in the 
matter. It became a war of privateers on ^^^^°{ 

^ Spanish 

both sides, at first with varying success, then War. Priva- 

tecrs. 

with success inclining wholly to the English, 
who in one year took no less than 600 prizes. A priva- 
teer is a ship fitted out by private individuals at their own 
expense, to which Government gives permission to prey 
upon the commerce of the enemy. Such permission is 
called letters of marque. Without them a privateer 
would be a pirate. In conduct many privateers were 
uncommonly like pirates. It may be permitted here to 
add that a privateer's war is the very worst kind of war. 
There is no patriotism in it, merely an individual desire 
for gain. The horrors of such a war fall chiefly upon 
non-combatants — upon merchant ships, not men-of-war. 
In modern times it has been proposed in future wars to 



no 



The Early Hanovericwis. 



A. D. 1740 



consider neutral all private property upon the sea. Per- 
haps the world is not ripe for such a measure of justice ; 
but it is more and more felt that the distinction between 
combatants and non-combatants should be strictly pre- 
served. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ANSON S VOYAGE. 

The small fleet which was placed under the orders of 
Commodore Anson to operate against the Spanish settle- 
. ' fl f ^s^ts in the Pacific through unpunctuality 
object of failed altogether in its first purpose of attack- 

ing Panama, and across the isthmus offering a 
helping hand to Vernon in his attack an Cartagena. But 
the voyage became famous for the perils surmounted and 
for the damage of various kinds done to Spain. The 
little squadron at first consisted of six ships : — 





Guns 


Men 


Centurion . 


60 


400 


Gloucester . / 


50 


300 


Severn . . 


50 


300 


Pearl .... 


. . . 40 




Wager 


28 




Trial 


8 





Owing to the unpunctuality in equipment already men- 
tioned these ships arrived at Cape Horn at the worst time 
of the year, at the March equinox. Whilst rounding the 
Cape, and afterwards, they encountered the most violent 
weather — fearful storms and most bitter cold. The ships 
were unable to keep together, and the island of Juan 
Fernandez was appointed for a gathering place. When 
the storms were over the sailors were affected by the 



A. D. 1740 Anson s Voyage. in 

scurvy. So serious was this illness that hardly sufficient 
men were left alive to navigate the ships. The island of 
Juan Fernandez is Robinson Crusoe's island ; that is to 
say, it is the island in which Alexander Selkirk lived, the 
narrative of whose sojourn gave to Daniel Defoe the idea 
of Robinson Crusoe and his sojourn on an uninhabited 
island. To Anson's sailors it appeared like a paradise, 
containing plenty of fresh water and plenty of fresh 
herbs ; also goats, descendants of Selkirk's flock. 

Only three ships met at this island, the ' Centurion,* 
the ' Gloucester,' and the 'Trial.' The ' Severn ' and the 
' Pearl ' had suffered so badly that they were 
compelled to turn and go home. The ^^^^"^ , 

'■ ° scattered. 

'Wager' was wrecked on a small desert 
island, when the crew mutinied against the captain, and 
putting to sea in the longboat actually passed the Straits 
of Magellan, and about thirty of them even reached Rio 
Grande, in Brazil. Four out of the officers, whom the 
men had left behind, escaped to the Spanish settlements 
in Chili, where they were treated generously, and ulti- 
mately, being exchanged for Spanish prisoners, returned 
home. One of these, then a midshipman, afterwards 
became Admiral Byron, and was grandfather to Lord 
Byron, the poet, who says himself that in describing a 
wreck in his poems he made use of accounts that he had 
heard of scenes from the wreck of the ' Wager.' 

From Juan Fernandez, Anson's three ships set forth 
in search of prizes. The little 'Trial' captured a la;-ge 
merchant ship, and as the ' Trial ' was very leaky and 
unfit for further sailing, her crew was transferred to her 
prize. Then Anson determined to attack the Spanish 
town of Paita. Sixty sailors landing in boats were suffi- 
cient to take it ; and the English obtained large quanti- 
ties of plunder. The treasure was taken on board the 



112 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1740 

'Centurion,' and then Anson most unjustifiably gave 
orders that the town should be burnt. Meanwhile the 
' Gloucester ' also had taken valuable prizes. 

Anson's next scheme was to intercept one of the gal- 
leons that traded between Manilla and Mexico. These 

huge vessels brought merchandise from Ma- 
^aUeons °^ nilla and carried back the precious metals 

from the port of Acapulco, in Mexico. But 
before he could carry out his design Anson was obliged 
to destroy his prizes, and concentrate on board the two 
ships ' Centurion ' and ' Gloucester.' Having done this 
he put to sea, but the ships were caught in a storm, and 
it was found necessary to transfer the 'Gloucester's ' men 
to his own ship, the ' Centurion,' which was now left 
alone. Lest the ' Gloucester's ' hull should fall into the 
hands of the Spaniards she was set on fire. 

Now again the scurvy began doing great mischief to 
Anson's force, and reduced it until at one time there 
were not seventy men fit for duty. They stayed at the 
island of Tinian, one of the Ladrones Islands, and there 

recruited their strength. Whilst many, in- 
Anson at eluding the commodore, were ashore a vio- 

1 inian. ° ' 

lent storm arose and drove the ' Centurion ' 
from her moorings, and quite away from the island. So 
few sailors had been left on board that it was doubtful 
whether the ship could be worked back again to her 
position. Anson proposed that they should lengthen a 
small Spanish ship which they had seized at the island, 
but which was in its present condition too small to hold 
them all, and so escape. Heartened by the example of 
their chief, they were all working vigorously at ship-build- 
ing when from the top of a hill, to the great joy of all, 
the ' Centurion ' was espied returning. 

In the 'Centurion' Anson sailed to Macao to refit and 



A. D. 1740 Anson's Voyage. 113 

to supply himself with stores. Though Macao was a 
Portus^uese settlement the governor would 

At Macao 

give him nothing without the consent of the 
Chinese Government at Canton. As the mandarins 
made difficulties even about his purchasing provisions, 
Anson pointed out that the ' Centurion ' could destroy all 
the ships in Canton harbour ; that his men, being hungry, 
could not be restrained much longer ; and that if they 
turned cannibals they would probably begin with the 
plump, well-fed Chinese ! The mandarins yielded with- 
out further parley. 

Anson had not given up his designs on the Spanish 
galleons, and in about a month he fell in with one off the 
Philippine Islands. The Spanish ship did not try to 
avoid an engagement, but strangely postponed clearing 
decks until the fight had begun. Anson abandoned the 
system of broadsides, keeping up instead a constant but 
irregular fire. Moreover he stationed his best marks- 
men in the rigging to fire at the Spanish officers. The 
result of his tactics was that though the Spaniards fought 
bravely they were beaten by the English, who had not 
half their number. The Spaniards lost in the fight 151, 
the English 29, This prize had on board a million and 
a half of dollars. Anson took his prisoners to Canton, 
where he released them and sold his prize. At length he 
sailed for England round the Cape of Good Hope. 
When the ' Centurion ' reached home she had been 
absent three years and nine months. She brought home 
no little booty ; but the gain to Anson and his men was 
as nothing compared to the damage that had been done 
to Spain. Great was the glory gained. Proof had been 
given that England's seamen had not degenerated since 
the days of Elizabeth. Anson himself was made a peer. 



114 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1740 



CHAPTER V. 

AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION. 

The Emperor Charles VI. was unfortunate enough twice 
to set a general European war on foot : once when he was 

still a boy, being one of the claimants for the 
Emperor. Spanish crown, one of the 'pair of louts,' as 

Lord Peterborough called them, on whose 
account the long War of the Spanish Succession was 
fought. The second occasion was when, after his death, 
the arrangements which he had made v/ith care to pre- 
vent a war of Austrian Succession proved quite inadequate 
for that purpose. The Emperor's death was unexpected, 
taking place after a short illness. The death itself is 
said to have been caused by the Emperor's eating a 
dish of mushrooms at a time when he was already ill. 
Exactly forty years before the death of a Charles with- 
out male heir had ended the line of the Spanish Haps- 
burg family ; now the death of a Charles ended the other 
branch, the Austrian Hapsburgs, for the Emperor left no 
male heir ; but he had two daughters, the elder of whom 
was the beautiful and famous Maria Theresa. For many 

years the whole object of his policy had been 
Pragmatic j-q gecuj-g that she should succeed him in his 

banction. 

hereditary dominions, whilst latterly he had 
also hoped that her husband would be elected Emperor. 
Charles had therefore prepared an elaborate and formal 
document, long known as the Pragmatic Sanction, where- 
in it was decreed that, failing male issue, Maria Theresa 



A. D. 1740 Austrian Succession. 115 

should succeed him. For fifteen years he had done his 
best to induce the chief powers of Europe to give their 
assent to the Pragmatic Sanction, and their formal pro- 
mises that it should be carried out. No sacrifice seemed 
too great if this object could be attained. As far as 
diplomacy could serve, Charles might have died happy, 
for he had obtained all the guarantees which he had 
sought. It has been said that he left Maria Theresa 
an ample collection of parchments. Prince Eugene had 
warned the Emperor that it would have been far wiser to 
strengthen the army and fill the treasury than to trust in 
promises however sacred. Frederick the Great cynically 
remarked that it would have been of more use if Charles 
had left his daughter an army of 100,000 men. Such 
was the nature of the legacy which Frederick's father, 
who also died in this memorable year (1740), had left to 
him ; and the first use to which he put his admirably 
drilled army was, in disregard of Prussia's promise to 
support the Pragmatic Sanction, to invade the Austrian 
territory in order to put in force an old and obsolete claim 
of his family to the province of Silesia. 

Maria Theresa, who now became, and for a long time 
remained, one of the chief actors in the drama of Euro- 
pean history, was not twenty-four at her 
father's death. She is described as very ^^^'^ 

•' ineresa. 

beautiful, ' her person formed to wear a 
crown,* with a winning and animated face, a noble figure, 
and fascinating manners. By nature she was very high- 
spirited, even proud, never willing to abate a jot from her 
xlaims. She was most sincerely desirous of the good of 
her people, which, however, must be compassed in her 
way, for she was despotic as well as benevolent. Her 
will was strong, her understanding vigorous. Generous, 
chivalrous, earnest, she had religious principle as the 



ii6 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 1740 

mainspring of her life, but it was oftentimes a religious 
principle hardly to be distinguished from bigotry. 

The story goes that Frederick of Prussia wished once 
to marry her, and those who have the fancy to picture 
what might have been can see how the whole 
Maria^^^ ° history of Europe would have been altered 
Iheresa. i^y ^^ union of Prussia and Austria. This 

marriage is said to have been Prince Eugene's strong and 
earnest wish. But the difference of religion would have 
been an insurmountable barrier. For no marriage in the 
world would Maria Theresa, any more than Queen Caro- 
line of England, have changed her faith. Some have 
thought that an earlier unity of Germany might have been 
secured with Austria as nucleus, but in those days of ' bal- 
ance of power ' would the other nations have permitted 
such a disturbance of it ? Another match proposed for 
Maria Theresa was the Electoral Prince of Bavaria, When 
the War of the Polish Succession was turning out badly for 
the Emperor, Prince Eugene, in the last great state paper 
that he wrote, supported the idea of this marriage in order 
to strengthen the position of Austria in Germany and the 
German element in Austria. This paper of Eugene's, 
being exactly contrary to the Emperor's wishes for his 
daughter, seems to have decided the Emperor at once to 
make peace. 

It is pleasant to add that it was no marriage of policy 
which Maria Theresa made, but as genuine a love-match 
as any village maiden's. Four years before her father's 
death, after a mutual attachment of at least four years, 
she had married her cousin Francis, Duke of Lorraine, 
afterwards Grand Duke of Tuscany. It was this Duke of 
Lorraine who had been commander-in-chief in the middle 
year of the disastrous war against the Turks. Amongst 
the children of Francis and Maria Theresa must be 



A. D, 1740 Austrian Succession. 117 

mentioned Joseph, who succeeded Francis as Emperor, 
and the unfortunate Maria Antoinette, Queen of France. 

The Emperor hoped that upon his death this son-in- 
law would be elected Emperor ; but as he would not give 
up the hope of a male heir, he did not like to secure this 
result by causing Francis to be elected King of the 
Romans. Ultimately Charles' wish was gratified. With- 
in five years Francis was elected Emperor, but the inter- 
val was full of wars and battles, and before him Charles 
VII., 'the bold Bavarian,' occupied the imperial throne, 
though on a precarious and uncomfortable tenure. 

Considering the solemn promises that had been made 
to the Emperor Charles VI., it is wonderful how soon the 
Pragmatic Sanction was set aside. Those who 
had promised began to make excuses, to quote Various 
saving clauses and conditions in their deeds 
of promise. George II. of England alone remained firm 
in the resolve to keep his kingly word. In a speech to 
Parliament he announced that he meant to support 
Maria Theresa, and Parliament never thought of urging 
that England had nothing to do with the quarrel. The 
first to attack the dominions of Austria was Frederick, 
afterwards called the Great, in his invasion of Silesia. 
His plan was to seize Silesia first and to treat with 
Maria Theresa afterwards. She never forgave Frederick 
for this, and three Silesian wars were the result of his in- 
vasion. In the last, the Seven Years' War, Frederick 
was nearly overwhelmed, but when he emerged from it he 
still retained his hold of Silesia. But though Frederick 
was the first, he was not the only enemy raised up 
against the Archduchess Maria Theresa; the Elector 
of Bavaria, the King of Spain, and the Elector of Saxony 
claimed the whole or part of her dominions. 

The claim of Spain was based on an elaborate gene- 



Ii8 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1740 

alogy and on a compact made by Charles V. when he 
abdicated his throne. It is very evidemt, how- 
^^^"* ever, that this baseless claim to the whole 

monarchy was put forward in order that in any division 
some part might be secured. The Queen of Spain her- 
self confessed that she shared in the war in order ' that 
her second son, Don Philip, might gain a morsel of bread.' 
The Elector of Saxony, who was also King of Poland, 
claimed on the ground that his wife was the eldest 
daughter of the previous emperor, Joseph. 

But the claim of the Elector of Bavaria was considered 
the most formidable. Charles Albert was the son of the 
Elector who was defeated at Blenheim, and 
Elector of q{ Cunis^unda, dauo-hter of the famous John 

Sobiesky, King of Poland. He himself had 
r^arried the younger daughter of the previous emperor, 
Joseph. It is true that if there was any Salic law forbidding 
a female to succeed, it would operate not only against 
Maria Theresa, but against all the claimants ; for it 
would seem just that if a female cannot inherit she 
should not be able to transmit a claim. For 300 years 
of the House of Austria there had been no claim through 
a female. Yet it is manifest that the rules of succession 
in Austria must have been peculiar, for in England the 
daughters of Joseph would have succeeded before Charles 
himself, the late emperor. This must have been the rea- 
son why Charles took so much trouble about the Prag- 
matic Sanction. His daughter's claim was now clearly 
recognisable. He therefore did his utmost to secure 
promises that it should be recognised. The Elector of 
Bavaria claimed that by the will of a former emperor, 
Ferdinand I., females were excluded ; but when the 
original will at Vienna was examined, the word ' male ' 
on which he relied was not found. 



A.D. 1740 



Austrian Succession. 



119 



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August 
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I20 The Early Haiioverians, a.d. 1740 

The important question was, what side would France 

take ? When Frederick started for Silesia he is reported 

to have said to the French Ambassador, ' I 

France. it it • i 

believe that 1 am gomg to play your game 
(French hostility to Austria). If the aces fall to me, we 
will share the proceeds.' Yet on France's part there was 
a slight hesitation. Cardinal Fleury, the old Chief Min- 
ister, was in favour of accepting the Pragmatic Sanction. 
Like Walpole, he was a peace minister ; like Walpole, 
he was at this time forced into war ; like Walpole, he 
soon retired, and did not live long. Marshal Belleisle 
was at the head of a war party, chiefly consisting of young 
nobles, who desired to seize the opportunity to dismember 
France's old enemy, Austria. 

This Count Belleisle, who was the chief adviser of the 
French King in opposition to the policy of Fleury, was 
a notable man. He had conceived very de- 
finite plans with respect to Germany, such 
as were in accordance with the traditional lines of 
French ambition, but not of a kind to make Germans 
love his memory. His idea was divide et impera — keep 
Germany as disunited as possible, in order that France 
might prevail over her. A balance of power should be 
maintained; but in Germany, not in Europe. French 
interference in the Thirty Years' War had helped the 
disunion of Germany and to mark more strongly the 
multiplicity of her independent little states. Belleisle 
had a fancy for four German kingdoms of something like 
equal power : Austria, Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria. As 
Austria had hitherto been much more powerful than the 
others, the influence of France was to be thrown into the 
scale with the enemies of Austria, and on the spoils of 
Austria the other three kingdoms were to grow fat. 
Thus Frederick's seizure of Silesia would be supported 



A. D. 1740 Austrian Succession. 121 

by France. Count Belleisle obtained from the King the 
appointment of Ambassador Extraordinary to the courts 
of Germany, and proceeded to make a kind of semi- 
royal progress from one court to another. He had thirty 
young French lords in his suite, and no less than no 
servants in livery. To add to his importance, the King 
made him a Marshal of France. One of the first thino-s to 
be done was to defeat the election of Maria Theresa's hus- 
band as Emperor. Belleisle conducted negotiations which 
ultimately led to the election of Charles Albert, Duke 
and Elector of Bavaria. He took the title Charles VII. 

The full design of Austria's enemies was to reduce 
Maria Theresa to Hungary, Lower Austria and the Aus- 
trian Netherlands, and to share the rest of her dominions 
amongst the various claimants. A French 

° Alliance 

historian claims that this conduct on the part against 

/■ T- I > 1 1 Austria. 

of Prance was too generous, because she 
was to keep no portion of the shared dominions for her- 
self, as if the weakening of her ancient enemy was not 
reward enough for her. An alliance to this effect was 
made between France, Bavaria, and Spain, by the treaty 
of Nymphenburg. It was joined later by Saxony, and 
later still by Frederick of Prussia. France, however, did 
not declare war. Her cue was to appear only as Bava- 
ria's ally, and her first act was to hold George II. in 
check by marching an army upon Hanover. George, 
who was just preparing to take the field, agreed by the 
treaty of Hanover to neutrality for a year, on condition that 
there should be no French invasion of the Netherlands. 

The second act of France was to send an army towards 
Upper Austria. On crossing the frontier of 
their country the French soldiers put on ^ French 

-' ^ army. 

white and blue cockades, the badge of Ba- 
varia, as if they were Bavarian soldiers. This Franco- 



122 



The Early Hanoverians. a. D. 1740 



Bavarian army soon seized the whole of Upper Austria, and 
the Elector of Bavaria was proclaimed at Linz, the capi- 
tal of Upper Austria, hereditary Grand Duke. From 
Linz the victors might easily have marched on Vienna. 
Frederick, indeed, advised that they should ; but for some 
reason the Elector preferred to turn aside against Bo- 
hemia. The general belief is that the French did not 




V 



A. so 



THE UPPER Danube 

English Miles 



E.WeUe*. 



wish to make him too strong. The capture of Prague soon 
followed, and in that capital, in November, the Elector 
was crowned King of Bohemia. 

On June 25, 1741, Maria Theresa was crowned at 
Presburg, Queen of Hungary. This was her highest 
title until, in after days, her husband was 
elected Emperor. Then she was known as 
the Empress Queen. The English ambas- 
sador, an eye-witness, gave the following de- 
scription of the scene : — ' The Queen was all charm ; she 



Maria 
Theresa 
crowned at 
Presburg. 



A. D. 1 741 Austrian Succession. 123 

rode gallantly up the royal mount, and defied the four 
corners of the world with drawn sabre, in a manner to 
show she had no occasion for that weapon to conquer all 
who saw her. The antiquated crown received new graces 
from her head, and the old tattered robe of St. Stephen 
became her as well as her own rich habit, if diamonds, 
pearls, and all sorts of precious stones can be called 
clothes.' 

Even in June Maria Theresa must have needed all 
her high spirit to make this defiance. In the next three 
months her fortunes were fast ebbing, till at 
what seemed the lowest ebb she determined Hungarian 
to make a great effort to rouse the loyalty of subjects, 
her Hungarian subjects. In September she made pa- 
thetic and earnest appeal to the Diet, evoking their en- 
thusiasm. The scene has been somewhat touched up by 
later writers, especially by Voltaire. The Queen is usu- 
ally represented as carrying her little baby in her arms, 
making a Latin speech to the effect tliat she was forsaken 
by all, and invoking their ancient Hungarian valour to 
save her. The story runs that the members of the Diet 
sprang to their feet, drew their sabres, and shouted, 
' Moriamur pro rege nostro, Maria Theresia ! ' The 
evidence, however, for the degree of excitement which 
made her a king instead of a queen is not very strong. 
But there is no doubt whatever of the great enthusiasm 
with which she was received. The House of Austria had 
not hitherto made much of their Hungarian dominions, 
and the Hungarians were especially pleased to be called 
upon for assistance. They secured advantages also. 
The Queen pledged herself to restore to them their an- 
cient constitution, and a large Hungarian army was soon 
ready to defend right loyally the beautiful young queen. 
The Diet voted an i7isurrectio or general rising of the 



124 The Early Hmioverians. A. d. 1742 

whole country in arms. These Hungarians were no or- 
dinary soldiers, but enjoyed a special reputation for 
ferocity. 

Charles Albert had proceeded from Prague to Frank- 
fort, where the Diet of the Empire had been summoned, 
and, influenced by France, it elected him 
Elector Emperor with the title of Charles VII. 

Jjavana, ^ 

Emperor (January 24, 1742). On February 12 he was 

Charles VII. j n-u • t,- ir j 

crowned. I he poor man is himseli de- 
scribed by one who was present as ' very ill, dying of 
gout and gravel.' But the most famous description of 
him occurs in Johnson's ' Vanity of Human Wishes,' 
which was published within five years of his death. 

The bold Bavarian, in a luckless hour, 

Tries the dread summits of Caesarean power, 

With unexpected legions bursts away, 

And sees defenceless realms receive his sway : 

Short sway ! fair Austria spreads her mournful charms. 

The Queen, the Beauty, sets the world in arms ; 

From hill to hill the beacon's rousing blaze 

Spreads wide the hope of plunder and of praise ; 

The fierce Croatian, and the wild Hussar, 

With all the sons of ravage, crowd the war; 

The baffled prince, in Honour's flattering bloom 

Of hasty greatness finds the fatal doom. 

His foes' derision, and his subjects' blame. 

And steals to death from anguish and from shame. 

It is quite with a right instinct that history has at- 
tached importance to the scene or scenes in the Diet 
at Presburg. Here was the turning point in the fortune 
of ' fair Austria.' 

The change from September to the following Febru- 
ary was indeed complete. In September the Elector of 



A. D. 1742 Austrian Succession. 125 

Bavaria, with the army that was at least nominally his, 
took Upper Austria, and, in October, Bohe- 
mia. Maria Theresa's fortunes seemed at Maria The- 
the lowest pitch. In October she appealed to "^^^^ gams. 
her Hungarians, the English sent her large subsidies in 
money, and Frederick, by a private convention, offered 
her a break in the war against him. This gave her for a 
while a breathing space, and after a little further struggle 
the First Silesian War ended in the Peace of Breslau. 
Frederick had gained Silesia. The French were very 
angry that he had made peace. The general result was 
that the French were hard pressed in Bohemia, whilst 
Maria Theresa's troops advanced into Austria, and, by a 
curious coincidence, regained Linz, the capital of Upper 
Austria, on the very day that Charles Albert was elected 
Emperor. Then, following up their victory, they took 
Munich, the capital of his own dominions, on the very 
day that he was crowned, so that Charles VII. was a 
Lackland Emperor as soon as ever he was Emperor at all. 
The French had gone to Prague in very victorious 
fashion. But now that the Austrian cause was gaining the 
recapture of Upper Austria cut the French 
army off from Bavaria. It was so diminished French 
in numbers, and in such sore need of rein- ^'^"^y- 
forcements, that the Austrians were able to besiege it in 
this very town of Prague. A second army was sent by 
France, which was nicknamed the ' army of redemption,' 
but it was not able to fight its way as far as Prague. The 
utmost that it could accomplish was to seize the town of 
Eger, on the Bohemian frontier, and by holding it to 
secure a line of retreat for Belleisle and his army towards 
the Main Valley. Belleisle determined to make a sortie 
from Prague and convey his troops as quickly as possi- 
ble to Eger. The December weather was most bitter : 



126 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1743 

Christmas Day fell in the middle of the retreat. There 
was a hard frost, and snow lay on the ground, so that 
this retreat has been compared to the famous retreat 
from Moscow. The distance was only a hundred miles, 
but an enormous proportion of the men fell victims to the 
hardships of the march. The invalids and wounded 
had been left under a general at Prague. When sum- 
moned to surrender at discretion he made reply, ' Tell 
your general that unless he grants me the honours of 
war, I shall set fire to the four corners of Prague and 
bury myself in its ruins.' His heroism met with its fitting 
reward. 

Prague once cleared of its wrongful occupants, Maria 

Theresa quickly seized the opportunity to be crowned. 

A second coronation scene took place in 

IVIaria. 

Theresa Prague May 12, 1743. On her father's death 

crowned ^^ ^^^ proclaimed in Vienna, and she had 

at Prague. ^ ' 

now been crowned Queen of Hungary at 
Presburg, and Queen of Bohemia at Prague. She did 
her best to clear all rebellion out of Bohemia, and mean- 
while her armies invaded Bavaria, very legitimately car- 
rying the war into the country of the prince whose actions 
brought it on. He, poor man, was little more than a 
fugitive on the face of the earth. By September he gave 
up the struggle completely, and for the remaining six- 
teen months of his life the titular Emperor lived at Frank- 
fort entirely reft of power. 

Parallel with the war in Germany there was war also 
going on in Italy. Spanish troops had been landed in Italy 

under Don Philip, the second son of the Queen 
War in of Spain. The object of this force was to attack 

Milan as part of the Austrian possessions, and 
it was thought that Don Philip's elder brother Charles 
King of Naples, would render assistance. But the king- 



A. D. 1743 Battle of Dettingen. \tj 

dom of Naples, or of the Two Sicilies as it was often called, 
was forced into neutrality by an English fleet, which 
appeared in the Bay of Naples, and threatened to bom- 
bard the city if the king did not sign a treaty of neutrahty. 
Deprived of this expected assistance, Don Philip was not 
able to do much. 



CHAPTER VI. 

BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 

Dettingen is a very well remembered battle, because 
it was the last in which an English sovereign fought in 
person. But it is this single fact which has 
given it importance, not any display of mili- England and 
tary genius, nor any great results achieved by allies of com- 
either side. Curiously enough, France and 
England, the two principal combatants in the battle, were 
supposed not to be at war with each other. England was 
an ally of Austria ; France was an ally of the Emperor ; 
and it was not until a later date that these allies of two 
belligerents declared war against each other. 

The English army was under the command of the 
Earl of Stair, who, though a pupil of Marlborough, was 
never a great general, and now was growing 
old and infirm. With very slow steps the 
army advanced from Flanders to a position near Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main. It seems doubtful whether Lord Stair 
had any definite policy at all, except to wait for reinforce- 
ments. But what would be the use of the reinforcements 
unless there was something determined upon for them 
to do ? Stair gave no explanation of his intentions 
nor any defence of himself afterwards. But the most 
probable solution is that he meant to march from Frank- 



128 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1743 

fort some way up the valley of the Main, and then cross 
over to the Danube, there to co-operate with the Austrian 
army. Stair's force, when the reinforcements had joined 
him, consisted of some 44,000 men — 16,000 English, 16,000 
Hanoverians, and the rest Austrians, Hessians, and a 
few Dutch ; but the whole was an English army in the 
sense that England paid for all, except the Dutch. The 
arrangements for the commissariat were, one may almost 
say as usual, very bad. Frederick the Great once said 
that an army was 'like a serpent, and advanced upon 
its belly.' And it is true that the bravest soldiers can do 
but little unless sufficient arrangements are made for their 
feeding. In consequence of the different elements of which 
the army was composed, quarrels and jealousies were 
rife ; and Stair was a good deal hampered. 

The French army with which Stair had first to deal 

was under the command of Marshal Noailles, and was 

numerically stronger than Stairs. In spite of 

The French. , . , ^ , ^ xt -n i , 

this advantage, however, JNoailles would not 
risk a battle, but pursued a Fabian policy, cutting off 
supplies and harassing the English army generally. 
Stair rather wished to fight at once, but his colleagues out- 
voted him. 

The English army advanced up the valley of the Main 
as far as the town of Aschafifenburg. There it was joined by 

King George himself, who soon saw it would 
The situa^ y^^ impossible for the army to advance further. 

Of food for the army there was so little that 
the men were almost in a state of starvation : of fodder for 
the horses the supply was so scant, that it was said that 
if the troops had remained in the same position two days 
longer, it would have been necessary to have put all the 
horses to death. Noailles' army had effectively cut off 
supplies, of which the English had none nearer than 



A.D. 1743 



Battle of Dettingen. 



129 



Hanau, upon which place it was therefore determined to 
retreat. But Noailles did not intend to let the English 
retreat. He said he had caught them m a mouse-trap, 
and having once caught them he was not going to let 
them escape. The wooded hills of Spessart run parallel 
with the Main, and between Aschaffenburg and Dettingen 



BATTLE OF 

DETTINGEK 

Scale ef Miles 




A March, of the AUied ^rmy . 
B JbswLoTvaftJveAlRiuC&rfny 

hefitre the Batde . 
C Two bridges at Sdigenstajic . 
P French. BaXterves ■ 
C FneTU^vJorces under GrrcaratwnX,. 



F VoaJILes' MaiTLArrT^. 

G French Guard, atxaclann in, flanltn 

H Point, where they were drvven. 

into theSiyer. 
I RetreaC of the French, ■ 



at some points draw very near to the river. Noailles 
seized Aschaffenburg as soon as the English had evacu- 
ated it. On the west bank of the river he had drawn up 
batteries of artillery to fire upon the English as they re- 
treated on the , opposite bank ; and in the village of 
Dettingen he stationed some picked troops under his 

K 



130 The Early Ha7toverians. A. D. 1743 

nephew, the Duke of Gramont. At Dettingen a brook 
pours into the Main, and as the Enghsh would have to 
cross it, Noailles chose that as the point for the complete 
destruction of the English troops. 

It certainly seemed as if Noailles really had caught 

the English army in a trap. As the English marched 

from Aschafifenburg to Dettingen, they suf- 

The battle. , ^ ., , ^ ^ , ^ % : J ^ 

lered terribly from the nre of the French 
artillery on the opposite bank. The river could not be 
crossed, and there was no way to silence the artillery. 
As the advanced guards reach Dettingen, they find 
that the way is blocked. For some six hours the troops 
were being drawn up in as good order as possible, con- 
sidering the cramped space. At length Gramont became 
impatient of awaiting the English assault, and instead of 
obeying orders and maintaining his ground he advanced 
with his best cavalry, the French regiment called Maison 
du Roi, no doubt expecting an easy and a rapid victory. 
The charge came with such force that it broke, at least in 
parts, the three front lines of the English, but could not 
break the fourth. The result now was that Gramont's 
cavalry and the English infantry were so mixed together 
that the fierce cannonade from the opposite bank was 
obliged to cease, lest it should do as much harm to the 
French as to the English. Some of the French infantry 
advanced to the attack and were driven back with com- 
plete defeat into the river, many throwing themselves in, 
and being drowned in the attempt to swim across. The 
English who had steadily resisted these shocks were now 
in turn able to advance, the French hastily retreating out 
of their way. 

When once the French were routed, Stair wished to 
send the English cavalry to follow up the fugitives ; but 
in so doing he ignored the fact that many of the French 



A. D. 1743 Battle of Dettingen. 131 

soldiers had not been in the battle at all. Indeed, if 
Gramont had obeyed orders and waited, it is very- 
doubtful whether the English would have forced their 
way through. The King at any rate was convinced that 
the wisest use for the English to make of their victory 
was to escape from their perilous position ; and through 
pouring rain the troops marched to Hanau. He even 
sent a polite message to Noailles asking him to bury the 
dead and take care of the wounded : it is to the honour 
of Noailles that he did. Perhaps he felt that such a re- 
quest took off much from the sting of defeat. 

Frederick the Great used to delight in giving a comic 
account of the attitude of his uncle King George during 
this battle. He describes him as constantly 
in the attitude of a fencing-master at the Kmg George 
lunge. But Frederick did not love his uncle 
and was fond of ridiculing him. There is no doubt, from 
other sources, that once King George's horse ran away 
with him, and that when once it was stopped, the King, 
being firmly on the ground, said, ' No more running away 
now': that the King placed himself at the head of the 
troops and encouraged them by saying, ' Steady, my boys ; 
fire, my brave boys, give them fire, the French will soon 
run.' In fact there cannot be any doubt that the King 
showed the same personal bravery in the field, as much 
earlier in his life he had shown at the battle of Oudenarde. 
If Noailles had succeeded in capturing the King it would 
have been a serious matter. Perhaps the price of his re- 
demption would have been the withdrawal of England 
from the alliance with Maria Theresa. It has been felt that 
such a risk as the capture of the Sovereign ought not to 
be run ; hence the reputation that Dettingen enjoys as the 
last battle in which an English sovereign fought in person. 

The results of the battle were that the English had 



132 The Early Hatioverians. A.D. 1743 

fought their way back to their supplies at Hanau, and 
apparently not much more, except that it 
Results of gained for King George some glory, which 
at this time fell against the interests of peace. 
The cause of Maria Theresa had for some time been 
gaining ground, and now that her ally had also gained a 
victory, though apparently a useless victory, it was more 
difficult than ever to persuade her to be moderate. The 
war had changed its nature. It began as the war of 
Austrian succession, and was then intended to prevent 
the dominions of Maria Theresa from being broken up. 
It had now become on her part a war of vengeance 
against France — and at this point England ought to have 
left off assisting her. This at any rate was the opinion 
of a very eminent Englishman, who had been keen for 
the war at first, — William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham. 
In a speech made in Parliament in the December after 
Dettingen he noticed the change in the nature of the war, 
and declared that peace ought to have been made. 

In England as at Vienna there was a great deal of 
rejoicing over the battle, one sign of which remains to 
this day in the well-known ' Dettingen Te Deum,' com- 
posed by Handel, then at the height of his fame. 



CHAPTER VIL 

DETTINGEN TO FONTENOY, 

The two years of which the battle of Dettingen formed 
the centre were years of great success for Maria Theresa. 
Bohemia and Upper Austria reconquered, 
Theresa and the French invaders thus driven back 

prospering. everywhere from her territory. The Em- 
peror, nominally her chief enemy, had lost his own 



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A. D, 1744 Dettingen to Fontenoy. 133 

country, Bavaria, and was dependent for his very sub- 
sistence on the bounty of France. England was upon 
her side, lavish with subsidies, and now at length with 
an army in the field. But Maria Theresa would not 
make peace ; she wanted to humiliate France and to 
annul the election of the Emperor. 

The results of her obstinacy were twofold. France, 
which had hitherto professed to hold a secondary posi- 
tion in the war, to be only the Emperor's 
auxiliary, declared war both against England becomes a 
and Austria, and entered upon it with great Principal, 
vigour, choosing as battle ground that unfortunate coun- 
try, which has been called the ' cockpit of Europe,' the 
Austrian Netherlands. Secondly, Maria Theresa brought 
Frederick again iato the field against her. 
He professed to be only concerned for the 
Emperor ; but he probably felt that, if her career of 
victory continued without a check, the first use which 
Maria Theresa would make of her consolidated and in- 
creased power would be to make one more effort to 
regain the province of Silesia, the loss of which she so 
bitterly regretted. Frederick's principle always was to 
strike first if a blow from any quarter was impending. 
As champion of the Emperor, Frederick organised a 
union of German princes called the * Union of Frank- 
fort,' but either they had no care for German unity or 
they mistrusted Frederick. Besides himself and the Em- 
peror, only two princes joined it. 

Exactly two years after the peace of Breslau the 
Second Silesian War began ; it lasted eighteen months, 
during which the death of the Emperor 
seemed to remove all reason for the war. Second Si- 

lesian War. 

Frederick invaded Bohemia and seized 

Prague, then was driven back into Silesia, was followed, 



134 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1744 

won a great battle, entered Bohemia again, and there 
won another battle. By this time Saxony had joined 
Austria, with designs which extended as far as the parti- 
tion of Prussia. Again to be beforehand, Frederick in- 
vaded Saxony, won two great battles, had Saxony entirely 
at his mercy, and then showed himself exceedingly mod- 
erate in his terms. Peace was signed on Christmas Day 
at Dresden. 

The King himself, urged by one of his favourites to 

shake off his torpor and show himself a real king, went 

to command the army in the Netherlands, 

King Lewis ^^^ there saw Marshal Saxe take several 

^ V , 

towns. News came that the Austrians were 
invading Alsace, and the King went against them with 
Noailles and an army of 50,000 men. On the way he 
was taken ill at Metz, and it was thought tnat he would 
die. From his sick bed he sent a message to Marshal 
Noailles : ' Remember that Conde won a battle whilst 
Lewis XIII. was being carried to his tomb.' There was 
great excitement throughout France about the King's 
illness, and when a rumour reached Paris that it had 
ended fatally, the mourning was widespread and genu- 
ine. A violent remedy not prescribed by the physicians 
cured the malady, and there was great rejoicing. It was 
then that he received the title 'Well-beloved,' which he, 
a dissolute and profligate man, deserved less than any 
king. What possibilities of beneficent reform were open 
to a king, if such loyalty still attached to his office ! 
This was not quite fifty years before the beheading of his 
grandson in the French Revolution. The 'Well-be- 
loved ' certainly helped to bring it on. 

Early in 1744 the British fleet won a victory over the 
combined French and Spanish fleets, not far from the 
harbour of Toulon. The victory was not so complete 



A. D, 1745 Dettinge7i to Fojttenoy. 135 

as it might have been, because of the want of harmony 

between the officers in command of the 

fleet, and the bulk of the French and ^^^ ^s'^'^, 

near ioulon. 

Spanish ships were able to escape. About 
the naval supremacy of Great Britain there was no doubt. 
In January 1745 the Emperor Charles VII. died in 
his own capital at Munich. It is usual to say that his 
death was as much the result of his troubles „ , , 

Death of 

as of disease ; but if he had half the illnesses the ' Bold 

, ^-.,. . ,. Ill ■ Bavarian.' 

that Voltaire assigns to him, he had quite 
enough to kill him without any disasters, — ' He had the 
gout and the stone ; they found his lungs, his liver, and 
his stomach gangrened, stones in his bladder, and a 
polypus in his heart.' Even three years before, at his 
own coronation at Frankfort, Frederick the Great's sister 
had said of him : 'The poor Kaiser could not enjoy it 
much ; he was dying of gout and gravel,, and could 
scarcely stand on his feet.' It is sometimes the fashion 
to speak of Charles VII. as a sort of pretender, a Perkm 
Warbeck, not a genuine emperor at all. Nothing can 
be more incorrect. He was elected as the other emperors 
were, and it was Maria Theresa alone who protested 
during his lifetime. Even if there had been an inform- 
ality in the election there was a large majority of voices 
for Charles. An unhappy emperor is still an emperor. 
No doubt his death at this conjuncture helped the cause 
of Maria Theresa very materially. 

The new Elector of Bavaria at once made overtures 
of peace to Austria, renouncing all his claims to Austrian 
dominions, and offering his own vote for the 
Grand Duke Francis. On these terms he se- Francis! ° 
cured his own hereditary dominions of Ba- 
varia. Here was another point at which a general peace 
might have been made, but Maria Theresa's ambition 



136 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1745 

and resentment again stood in the way. In September 
of this year (1745) Francis was elected Emperor, and 
shortly afterwards duly crowned at Frankfort. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

CAMPAIGN OF FONTENOY. 

After the battle of Dettingen the French had some fear 
that the allied army would invade France, Their chief 

reliance for defence was placed not in either 
Saxe. of the generals defeated at Dettingen, but in 

an abler man, who then received the nick- 
name 'Buckler of Alsace.' This was Maurice, Count of 
Saxony, afterwards knov/n as Marshal Saxe, a soldier of 
fortune, but no Frenchman, and with no special tie to 
France, except that France had hired his sword. By 
birth he was a German, for he was the natural son of 
Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Po- 
land. By religion he was nominally a Lutheran, but his 
life was a credit to no religion. In a careless and disso- 
lute age there were few so dissolute as he. His morality 
was the morality of a camp. A characteristic but un- 
supported story ran that when he was a boy of eleven 
or twelve he escaped from his tutors and governors, 
and appeared in Eugene's camp before Lille, eager to 
see what war was like ; but, indeed, he was a soldier 
born and bred, and the first general of his generation, 
not excepting Frederick the Gre^t, who had to learn 
from the bitter experience of defeat what Saxe knew 
without that teaching. There are, however, those who 
say that Saxe's greatness is to be attributed to the 
littleness of his opponents, Maurice was tall and power- 
ful-looking — his physical strength was so great that he 



A.D, 1745 Campaign of Fontenoy. 137 

could break horseshoes with his hands. But when he 
was appointed to the command of the army in Flanders 
he was a wreck. His vices had brought on dropsy, so 
that he could with difficulty move. Voltaire met him 
leaving Paris, and asked him how he could start for a 
campaign in health so bad. ' It is not a question of living,' 
he answered, ' I must start.' The human will has mighty 
power to conquer physical suffering. During all the battle 
of Fontenoy the general was carried about the field in a 
litter of basket-work, for he could not sit on horseback. 
Because of his intolerable thirst he was chewing a leaden 
bullet. 

The campaign in Flanders consisted chiefly of sieges 
uijtil the great battle of Fontenoy. The French were 
besieging the strong and important city of 
Tournay, to the relief of which the Duke of Campaign in 

■' Flanders. 

Cumberland, at the head of the allied army, 
marched. Leaving a sufficient number of soldiers in his 
lines before Tournay, and even then having more than 
Cumberland, Marshal Saxe turned to meet him. The King 
of France and his son, the Dauphin, came from Paris on 
purpose to witness the expected battle. The field of battle 
is pretty well defined by the river Scheldt on 
the west side, and some boggy and wooded ^j\^ battle 

' ='*'•' of Fontenoy. 

land on the north. The French line occupied 
the inner side, and as the French meant to receive, not to 
make the attack, their line was strongly fortified. In front 
of the villages Antoine and Fontenoy, and between them, 
redoubts had been built; and at the northern edge of 
the battlefield, on the outskirts of a wood, there was 
another fort, called, after the regiment which held it, the 
redoubt d'Eu. The space between this and Fontenoy 
was not fortified, and seems to have, been nearly 1,000 
yards. Cumberland assigned to his Dutch and Austrian 



138 



The Early Hanoverians. 



A.D. 1745 



troops the left of his Une ; their business was to attack 
Antoine, He himself with the English and Hanoverian 
infantry was to march against Fontenoy. An English 
general with some Highlanders and other troops was 
told off to attack the fort which lay on the extreme right 
of the allies — the redoubt d'Eu. Unfortunately neither 



TOUR]^IAr 




Boggy LaJvdL 



«. 



o 






Battle of 
FONTEKOT 

Scale of Miles 



E .WeJier 

O O forts ■ ffi Tarwer and, wtrtdnulL where FrencKEing ds Dauphin, viert. 
A Frcnrh troops - InfanUy m. franx. , Cavalry in. rear . 

P DuTjJi <i Avstnan- „ 

C English. „ 

D English, in. Z position, ,-whjere they broke the liTie . 

E Detjjjiurtenx, of Highlanders, &c., sent earhr tn,l>atd£ to aStcuJi, Fort (i.'J?u>. 



on the right nor on the left was the work done. The 
English general on the right found the redoubt too strong 
for him. As he marQhed to the attack he met with some 
French skirmishers in the wood, and thought that they 
formed part of a large body of troops, whereupon he 
returned to the Duke of Cumberland to ask for artillery, 



A.D. 1745 Campaign of Fo7ite7ioy. 139 

and thus lost the favourable time for attack. For this 
he was afterwards tried by court-martial and expelled 
the service. The Dutch and Austrian troops on the left 
of the line advanced against Antoine, but finding them- 
selves exposed to a galling fire retreated and relinquished 
the attempt. It was said that one Dutch colonel drew 
his men off, took them to Ath, some dozen miles, whence 
he wrote to his superiors that the whole allied army had 
been cut to pieces, except the part which he had prudently 
brought off safe. 

Three times did the Duke of Cumberland attack Fon- 
tenoy in the centre of the line, but each time he was 
repulsed, so that none of the attacks on the ^, 
forts succeeded. Then hastily modifying his yanceofthe 
plan, Cumberland determined to break 
through the French line between Fontenoy and the wood. 
This was a most desperate enterprise. The ground was 
very irregular, and sloped downwards towards the French 
position. All the way, except when they could secure a 
momentary cover, the English troops were exposed to a 
galling cross-fire from the batteries on either side of them. 
Into this space, which, like Balaclava, might be described 
as ' the jaws of hell,' the English troops upon order given 
bravely advanced in three columns, dragging some can- 
non with them. Marshal Saxe afterwards said that he 
never could have believed it possible that any army would 
attempt such a feat ; otherwise he would have placed 
additional fortifications in the gap. 

At this stage an incident occurred which has been often 
discussed. Voltaire gives a stoi'y that the officers of the 
regiment of the English Guards at the head of the advanc- 
ing column saluted the French by pulling off their hats ; 
that the French officers returned the salute ; that the 
English commanding officer cried out, ' Gentlemen of the 



140 The Early Ha7ioveria7ts. A.D. 1745 

French Guards, fire ! ' whereupon the French officer 
rephed, ' Gentlemen, we never fire first ; fire yourselves! ' 
Unfortunately for this pretty story a letter has been pre- 
served written only three weeks later by this very com- 
manding officer in which he says, ' It was our regiment 
that attacked the French Guards, and when we came 
within twenty or thirty paces of them I advanced before 
our regiment, drank to them, and told them that we were 
the English Guards, and hoped that they would stand till 
we came quite up to them, and not swim the Scheldt, as 
they did the Mayn at Dettingen. Upon which I imme- 
diately turned about to our own regiment, speeched them, 
and made them huzzah. An officer came out of the 
ranks and tried to make his men huzzah ; however, there 
were not above three or four in their brigade that did.' 
Whichever fired first, the English had much the best of 
the shooting. Their firing was so good that according 
to a French officer's report one volley fired against some 
charging cavalry brought down 460 men from their sad- 
dles. The English columns advanced steadily in every 
encounter, defeating those opposed to them. The result 
was that the French army was cut in two. In a batde 
the breaking of the enemy's line is always a great point 
gained. It may be remembered especially how it was a 
favourite movement with Marlborough, and how it 
proved the turning-point at Blenheim and at Ramillies. 
But the movement requires support and does not neces- 
sarily give the victory. When Cumberland halted his 
men 300 yards beyond Fontenoy an onlooker might 
have thought that he would surely win. Such an on- 
looker would have thought this still more had he known, 
what was a fact, that Marshal Saxe had sent to beg the 
King and the Dauphin to retire from the battlefield. 
The King, however, courageously refused. ' If the 



A. D. 1745 Ca7npaig7i of Fontenoy. 141 

Dutch,' says Voltaire, ' had given proper assistance to the 
English no resource had been left, not even a retreat for 
the French army, nor probably for the King and the 
Dauphin.' 

Had either of the flank attacks succeeded the English 
chances would have been excellent. But the strength of 
the French position lay in their forts, and not one of the 
forts fell into the hands of the allies. In spite of their 
success the English column was driven back 

° How the ad- 

and the battle lost. A column was the best vance was 
formation for this famous advance because 
the artillery were on each side of it, and it was necessary 
that the smallest surface should be presented as a mark 
to the guns. Now the French brought artillery full ahead 
of the column, and able to play along its whole length ; 
the destruction became terrible. Then followed a general 
rally of the whole of the French troops and a simultane- 
ous charge on the column from all quarters. 

The following is the account of an eye-witness : — 
' The Marshal had commanded that the cavalry should 
touch the English with their horses' breast ; he was obeyed. 
Officers of the King's chamber charged 
pell-mell with guards and musketeers ; the witness's 
King's pages were there sword in hand. So 
perfect was the time observed, so perfect the courage, 
so unanimous was the indignation against the repulses 
they had suffered, so exact the concert — the cavalry 
with drawn swords, the infantry with fixed bayonets — 
that the English column was shattered and disap- 
peared.' As the English retreated from the field their 
rear was protected by their cavalry. The total English 
loss was 9,000 — 7,000 killed and wounded, 2,000 prisoners. 
The column had consisted of 16,000 men. Voltaire gives 
an account how the suggestion was made to the Marshal 



142 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1745 

of these movements which brought victory to the French ; 
but other and later writers, jealous for the honour of the 
general, deny that he was taken aback or accepted sug- 
gestions from others. Some even think that he allowed 
the English column to advance as into a trap in order 
that the defeat might be the more complete. It was a 
repetition of an old story. The English fought bravely, 
but were not well led. The youthful Cumberland (he was 
only twenty-four) could not make the allies work, and 
the brave advance was thrown away because it was not 
supported. It must, however, be remembered that the 
ground between Antoine and Fontenoy was fortified, 
whilst there was no fort between Fontenoy and the 
wood. 

One point remains to be mentioned. Amongst the 
most gallant troops of the French army was the Irish Bri- 
gade. This force, consisting of some five regi- 
Irish at mcnts, was composed of Irish exiles, lacobites 

Fontenoy. ' ^ ' -^ . 

to a man, and full of deadly hostility against 
England and the English Government. A portion of 
this brigade had in the earlier part of the battle helped 
to defend Antoine against the Dutch. The remainder 
had been comparatively inactive, and on account of their 
freshness were chosen to head the final charge on the 
English and Hanoverian column. The Irish Brigade 
is said to have advanced to the tune of 'The White 
Cockade.' This is the badge at the same time of the 
House of Stewart and of the House of Bourbon, which 
befriended the Stuarts. Shouting in their own language, 
'Remember Limerick and Saxon treachery,' the exiles 
rushed upon the English column, which contained many 
of their own kin. There was all the fury of civil war in 
this deadly struggle on foreign soil. This was the charge 
which decided the fortune of the day, and it is with truth 



A. D. 1745 The Forty-five. 143 

that in later days a great Irish orator (Grattan) remarked, 
'We met our own laws at Fontenoy. The victorious 
troops of England were stopped in their career of 
triumph by the Irish Brigade, which the folly of the 
penal laws had shut out from the ranks of the British 
army,' King George is said on hearing of the Irish 
bravery to have exclaimed, 'Cursed be the laws which 
deprive me of such subjects ! ' 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FORT Y-F I V E . 

One of the strongest reasons that Sir Robert Walpole 
gave for his urgent wish that England should remam at 
peace was the security of the crown in the 
House of Brunswick. He maintained that if prophesies 
the nation was at war a good opportunity 
would be offered to the supporters of the House of Stuart, 
who, ever on the look-out for an advantage, would not 
fail to use it. Walpole did not live to see his prophecy 
fulfilled, although he died only a few months before its 
fulfilment. In 1745 Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford, 
died in March ; in May came the defeat at Fontenoy ; 
before July was ended the Young Pretender had landed 
in Scotland. Had Walpole lived a little more than four 
months longer he would have seen a rebellion begin which 
seemed to be about to shatter his life's work. Had he 
lived two years longer he would have seen in its defeat 
that his labours had not been in vain. 

In order to embarrass the English Government the 
French ministers summoned the Young Pretender from 
Rome in order that they might concert with him meas- 
ures for an invasion of England. It may be as well to 



144 The Early Hanoverians. a.d, 1745 

give some account of this hero of romance, who, hke 

his father, was known by different names 

The Young according- to the views of those who spoke of 

Pretender. ^ , ,• i i 

him. Supporters of the estabhshed govern- 
ment in England called him the ' Young Pretender ' ; his 
friends gave him the tide ' Prince of Wales ' ; and those 
who wished to be perfectly neutral knew him by the name 
of the 'Young Chevalier.' 

Charles Edward Louis Casimir was the eldest son of 
the Old Pretender, or Chevalier de St. George, the James 

Francis Edward whose birth in the year of 

the English Revolution had so marked an 
effect in bringing that revolution about, and who made 
the unsuccessful attempt to obtain the crown of Great 
Britain in 171 5. The advisers of this defeated prince 
urged him to marry in order that the House of Stuart 
might not become extinct with him. 

The lady that they selected for his hand was Princess 
Mary Clementina Sobieski, granddaughter of the heroic 

warrior-king of Poland, one of the wealthiest 

His mother. . . 

heiresses m Europe. It was necessary that 
this young princess, who at the time of her marriage 
could not have been more than seventeen and a half, 
should pass through the Austrian territory to Italy in 
order that the marriage might there take place. Whilst 
she was on the road the Government of the Emperor, 
being anxious to do the English a pleasure, because the 
support of England to his policy was of the utmost im- 
portance to him, caused the lady to be stopped on her 
journey and kept in a convent at Innsbruck, in the Tyrol. 
But the young princess, evidently a brave and spirited 
woman worthy of her origin, managed to escape. On 
arrival at Bologna, in Italy, the marriage ceremony was 
performed, the husband being represented, as princes 



A. D. 1745 



The Forty-five. 



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146 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 1745 

often are, by proxy, for James was in Spain helping for- 
ward the abortive Alberoni attempt. When that had 
completely failed he returned to Italy. 

The young Chevalier was born in Rome on the -last 
day of the year 1720, whilst England was in great distress 

after the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. 
His educa- j^g ^^^ \hViS under twenty-five at the time of 

his famous attempt, called after the year, 'the 
Forty-five.' His father had been very little older at the 
time of his equally unsuccessful effort thirty years pre- 
vious. The young man was in many ways well suited 
for the part he was about to play ; for he was vigorous 
and athletic, having deliberately trained himself to bear 
fatigue, whilst his manners were courteous and winning. 
His features were handsome and he had blue eyes. Un- 
fortunately he was badly educated ; for instance, his 
spelhng was atrocious. Less importance was attached to 
spelling in former days than now, but ' sord ' for sword, 
and ' gems ' for his father's name, James, pass any fair 
allowance. Though he was of a frank, generous disposi- 
tion, he had, as a matter of course, been brought up in 
the absurd predilection for arbitrary government, which 
had brought his family to ruin. Of course, also, like his 
father and grandfather, he was a Roman Catholic, As 
the father was still under sixty, and was looked upon by 
the Jacobites as king, it is curious that he should not 
have placed himself at the head of his followers on the 
occasion of this last attempt which they made to recover 
for him the throne of his ancestors ; but continued failure 
chills the blood more than age, and it was thought better 
that the new effort should be made entirely by one whom 
no failure had discredited. 

Moreover there was a marked contrast between the Old 
and the Young Pretenders in spirit and in fitness to in- 



A. D. 1745 The Forty -Jive. 147 

spire an enterprise. There has been much disputing 
about the characters of each of these claimants 
to the crown. Probably neither was deficient Seen^oid^' 
in personal courage, but the father lacked ^^ Young 
resolution, and had, except with reference to 
his own claims, a vacillating mind as well as a melancholy- 
disposition ; whereas the son showed the dashing bravery 
of a true Highlander, happier in attack than in defence, 
and had an elastic gaiety of spirit ever brighter when 
clouds were darkest. Both had been brought up in 
exile, constantly cherishing hopes doomed to disappoint- 
ment. If we seek for an explanation of the difference 
between them perhaps we may find it in the Sobieski 
descent of the younger. It is important to notice this 
strain in him. John Sobieski was a Polish noble elected 
to the crown of Poland because of his prowess as a 
general. With 20,000 men he had fought an army of 
Cossacks and Tartars five times as large. The fight- 
ing was said to have lasted seventeen days, but at the 
end of it Sobieski had beaten back the invaders and 
saved his country. His greatest achievement was against 
the Turks. The Emperor had refused to acknowledge 
him as King of Poland, but when the Turks came in 
hordes against the empire the humbled Emperor sued 
to Poland, as to the other Christian powers, for help. 
At first Sobieski declined, but he was too chivalrous to 
see a Christian nation overwhelmed by the enemy o^ 
their common Christianity. The Turkish host had reached 
and was besieging Vienna when Sobieski appeared, 
mastered the Turkish camp, and drove the army back 
to the frontiers. A most magnanimous, high-souled 
king, full of desire for his people's good, Sobieski was 
yet unable to bring order out of anarchy in Poland and 
the Polish Government. This king- was R-reat-g-randfather 



148 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1745 

of Charles Edward, in whom the ancestor's heroism 
reappears. 

The Jacobites naturally selected for their attempt the 

time when there was war between Great Britain and 

, France. The younor prince was summoned 

Army under •' ° '^ 

Marshal from Rome, which he left secretly as if he 

were starting to hunt, and by travelling swiftly 
escaped any attempt at capture, although it is said that 
the ship in which he sailed ran through the English fleet 
in the Mediterranean. The French were prepared to 
throw upon the English coast a force of 15,000 men, and 
an army of that number was being got ready upon the 
opposite shore under the celebrated Marshal Saxe. Such 
a force required a considerable number of transports, 
but the appearance of the English fleet, and the oppor- 
tune occurrence of a storm with the wind blowing straight 
on the French coast, put a complete stop to the expedi- 
tion. Many of the transports were driven ashore. It 
seemed as if the elements were fighting on behalf of 
England, as the winds had helped to dissipate the Invin- 
cible Armada. ' Decidedly,' wrote Marshal Saxe to a 
friend, the ' winds are not Jacobite.' It is fortunate that 
they were not, for Marshal Saxe was a great general, and 
had under him trained and war-tried soldiers, whilst 
England had no commander to set against him, and her 
best troops were on the continent. 

After this mishap the French ministers were reluctant 

to give any further help ; but with or without French help 

Charles Edward was determined to make his 

help from attempt. After the defeat at Fontenoy, as 

France, England seemed to have need of her soldiers 

Charles © 

Edward on the Continent, the opportunity seemed to 

starts 

offer itself. The Prince embarked in the 
* Doutelle,' a small sloop that had been fitted out as a priva- 



A. D. 1745 The Forty-five, 149 

teer, whilst there went as convoy a French man-of-war, 
apparently procured without the direct sanction of the 
French ministers. An English ship of war met the pair, 
and engaging the French vessel wrought it so much harm 
that it was compelled to put back to a French harbour to 
refit. The other vessel slipped away and reached the 
Hebrides. On July 25, at Moidart, the south-western cor- 
ner of Inverness-shire, the Prince landed, accompanied by 
seven devoted followers, afterwards known as the * seven 
men of Moidart.' 

At the time of this famous landing everyone would 
have predicted speedy discomfiture. To those who had 
eyes to see it seemed doubtful if even the Highlanders 
could be induced to rise in so hopeless an attempt, and 
certain that, if the Highlanders hazarded their lives 
through zeal for the House of Stuart, no one 
else would join them ; whilst it was also clear prospects. 
that the Highlanders, unsupported, could 
avail nought against the strength of England. The ablest 
and most influential of the Highland chiefs themselves 
saw this clearly, but enthusiasm and loyalty prevailed 
over their good judgment. Cameron of Lochiel endeav- 
oured to dissuade the Prince. His brother advised him 
to write his opinion, and not to trust himself within the 
fascination of the Prince's presence ; but unluckily for 
him the advice was not followed. 

The end of the interview is thus described : ' In a few 
days/ said the Prince, 'with the few friends that I have, 
I will erect the royal standard, and proclaim 
to the people of Britain that Charles Stuart 
is come over to claim the crown of his ancestors, to win 
it or to perish in the attempt. Lochiel, who, my father 
has often told me, was our firmest friend, may stay at 
home, and learn from the newspapers the fate of his 



150 The Early Hanoverians. a. d. 1745 

prince.' ' No ! ' said Lochiel, ' I will share the fate of my 
prince ; and so shall every man over whom nature or 
fortune hath given me any power,' Thus Lochiel cast in 
his lot with what he called 'this rash undertaking,' and it 
was generally believed that if he had kept aloof from it 
the other chiefs would not have joined. 

On August 19, in a romantic narrow valley called Glen- 
finnin, took place the ceremony of raising the standard. 
An old marquis, who had been exiled for 
standafd° his part in the Fifteen, one of the seven men 

of Moidart, performed the ceremony. So 
infirm was he from age that, whilst handling the big 
banner of red silk with a white centre, he had to be sup- 
ported by a man on each side. Loud cheers, loud music 
of the bagpipes greeted the flag. Bonnets were thrown 
into the air. Then was read the manifesto of the Prince's 
father, and the commission of regency which entitled the 
Prince to represent him ; and the scene concluded with 
a stirring speech from the young man himself. ' He had 
come for the happiness of his people, chose Scotland as 
his starting-point because he knew he should find brave 
gentlemen zealous for their own honour and the rights 
of their sovereign, and as willing to live and die with him 
as he was willing at their head to shed the last drop of 
his blood.' 

All this was calculated to rouse enthusiasm. More and 
more joined his camp, and in a few days the seven had 
become 1,600, all animated with the same 
improve.^ feeling of love and loyalty for their chival- 

rous young prince, and of zeal for his cause. 
No hope of gain lay before them, and any selfish reason- 
ing would have made them stay at horn'?. 

Meanwhile the English Government seemed to be hardly 
aware of the importance of the insurrection, and were slow 



A. D. 1745 The Forty-five, 151 

in taking measures against it. The general commanding 
the forces in Scotland was Sir John Cope, not 
by any means a coward in the sense of hav- Cope? 
ing any personal fear of danger, but afraid 
of responsibility ; fit to be a subordinate, quite unfit to 
be in command. On the very day of the raising of the 
standard Sir John Cope marched to meet the rebels. 
Heedless that this involved a march into the mountains, 
the English general started with two regiments of 
dragoons, about 1,500 infantry, and a large number of 
spare muskets, intended for loyal volunteers who, he 
expected, would apply for arms ; but the volunteers did 
not appear, and the muskets were soon sent back. It 
became manifest also that the cavalry would be of no 
use in the hill country, and they were left behind at 
Stirling. All this betrays want of information ; but even 
without the expected volunteers and the cavalry Cope 
had as many men as the Chevalier. Finding, however, 
that the latter had the better position on a steep and 
almost impregnable mountain pass called the Devil's 
Staircase, Cope determined, after consulting a council of 
war, to march off to Inverness. The general's great 
mistake had been made earlier. He ought never to 
have advanced into the mountains at all, for to do so 
was to meet the Highlanders on their own ground. To 
the council of war three courses lay open : to remain 
and fight, to retreat, or to turn off to the right and 
march to Inverness. Had the first course been adopted, 
the defeat at Prestonpans would have been anticipated. 
Either of the two latter courses would give hope to the 
insurgents ; but it may fairly be accepted that it was 
policy, not cowardice, that made Cope march to Inver- 
ness. Believing that man)^ of the Scotch clans in the 
Pretender's rear were loyal, he wished to reach and arm 



152 The Early Hanovei'ians. A. d. 1745 

them ; but it escaped his notice that, excepting the two 
regiments of dragoons, he had left no troops to guard 
Edinburgh. 

These dragoons retreated before the Pretender's ad- 
vance, and when they were within a mile or two of the 

city, at sight of an advanced guard of the 
Edward Highlanders, were seized with a disgraceful 

Ed[nbur h^ panic, and galloped through Edinburgh. 

This gallop was nicknamed the ' Canter of 
Coltbrigg,' the Colt Bridge over the Leith water being the 
starting-point of their race ; its goal was many miles on 
the further side of Edinburgh. The Edinburgh volunteers 
were called out and gathered in considerable numbers, 
but on the order being given to march out of the gates, 
the companies were found to have melted away. When 
the defenders were of such a character, there is no cause 
for wonder that Prince Charles was able to enter Edin- 
burgh, solemnly to take possession of Holyrood Palace, 
give a splendid ball, and cause his father to be proclaimed 
as king at the City Cross. Though Edinburgh was 
taken, the castle, which was strongly defended, remained 
in the hands of King George's men. The soldiers pro- 
posed to fire into the streets of the city, but such a course 
would only have done mischief and no good. Prince 
Charles found in Edinburgh a thousand muskets which 
the volunteers, having no further use for them, had 
returned to store, and he made a requisition on the mag- 
istrates for tents and other military appliances, including 
6,000 pairs of shoes. These men who had taken the 
capital of Scotland were many of them unshod, all badly 
armed, some only with a scythe or a pitchfork. Their 
discipline was admirable: there was no plundering, no 
drunkenness. 

Meanwhile General Cope was anxious again to place 



A.D. 1745 The Forty -five. 153 

himself and his troops between Prince Charles and 

Eng-land. He embarked at Aberdeen and, „ 

" Cope re- 

having brought them by ship to Dunbar, turns. Pres- 

marched towards Edinburgh, The Prince, 
ever ready for the fight, moved his army forward from 
the city, and was with difficulty prevented from leading 
the van himself. Then followed the battle of Preston- 
pans. Cope drew up his men awkwardly ; the cavalry, 
being the dragoons that had already run away, were 
divided, one regiment on each wing; the artillery also 
was divided ; the infantry were in the centre, imme- 
diately in front of a stone park-wall twelve feet high. 
All along the front lay a morass which seemed impossible 
to cross, and for one night the two armies lay separated 
in this way, the Highlanders eager to attack, fretting at 
the obstacle, Cope anxious only for defence and glad to 
have the morass in front of him. During the night, 
however, a gentleman of the neighbourhood who had 
joined the Pretender thought of a path by which his 
army might be led round. In the early morning, a mist 
still covering the whole battle-field, the Highlanders 
followed this path, and when the rising son drove away 
the mist, Sir John Cope's troops saw to their surprise the 
Highlanders over against them to the east. Leavixig 
time only for the saying of a short prayer, the High- 
landers rapidly advanced, the bagpipes playing and the 
men yelling. The sudden attack, the strange appear- 
ance of the foe, the loud pipes, the discordant yells, were 
enough to frighten the English troops, who turned and 
fled. In about seven minutes all the English soldiers, 
with a very few exceptions, were in full flight and in 
different directions. Sir John Cope tried to rally them, 
but was obliged to lead their hasty retreat, or, in other 
words, their flight. On arriving at Berwick he was told 



154 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1745 

that he was the first general who had come with the news 
of his own defeat. ' Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waking 
yet?' is the refrain of a ballad very popular in Scotland 
for many years to come. 

Amongst the exceptions should be mentioned Colonel 

Gardiner, the commander of a regiment of dragoons, 

who on the previous day had urged General 

Colonel Cope to take more vigorous steps. Gardiner 

Gardiner. ^ or 

had first gallantly, though fruitlessly, tried to 
lead his own men to the charge, and in so doing was 
wounded. After the flight of the cavalry, seeing a 
cluster of infantry making a stand, with the words 'Those 
brave fellows will be cut to pieces for want of a com- 
mander,' he rode up to them, and cried out loud, '' Fire 
on, my lads, and fear nothing.' ' But just as the words 
were out of his mouth,' says his biographer, ' a High- 
lander advanced towards him with a scythe fastened to a 
long pole, with which he gave him such a deep wound 
on his right arm that his sword dropped from his hand ; 
and others coming about him, while he was thus dread- 
fully entangled with that cruel weapon, he was dragged 
off from his horse.' He received another wound, from 
which in the course of the morning he died. Curiously 
enough, the encounter took place at the gate of Gardiner's 
own park. The biography of this brave soldier was 
famous because, having lived a gay and licentious life, 
he suddenly changed, becoming serious and pious. He 
asserted that the sudden conversion was produced by a 
vision of our Lord upon the cross. 

It is evident that Cope was not a great general ; but 

how are we to account for the conduct 
English de- of the men, for the English troops were 

reckoned amongst the bravest in Europe ? 
They had been badly led. The men remembered that 



A. D. 1745 The Forty-Jive. 155 

Cope, marching northwards, had avoided the Chevaher ; 
they could see from the disposition which he made that 
Cope was not eager for the fight. The troops were too 
much cooped up, and there was no room for the cavalry. 
But the more real reason was the entire strangeness of 
the Highlanders. Their appearance and strange equip- 
ment, the bagpipes, the yells, their unusual way of fight- 
ing, caused a complete panic. Highlanders make the 
best soldiers in the world for a battle, though unless under 
very thorough discipline they are not good for a campaign. 
A Highland charge is well nigh irresistible. Now-a-days 
English and Scotch know each other well : but then the 
Highlander was but little known, and his English fellow 
subjects and even the Lowland Scotch regarded him as 
a savage or barbarian. Children were concealed at the 
Highlanders approach for fear he should eat them ! No 
doubt the appearance of the 'wild petticoat men,' as the 
wearers of the kilt were called, was very terrible and 
'startling to a Southron. Poor, and in consequence badly 
clad and badly equipped, they had not the look of regular 
soldiers. But the men were better than they looked, and 
throughout this trying time kept good discipline, especi- 
ally as long as they were victorious. The Highlanders 
were very ignorant of many things which Southrons 
enjoyed. One Highlander sold a watch cheap because, 
not being wound up, it had ceased to go : he called it ' a 
dead beast.' Others sold chocolate found in the general's 
baggage as 'Johnnie Cope's salve.' The story was told 
how some Highlanders had forgotten themselves so far 
as to threaten respectable citizens, levelling weapons at 
them, and had then only made the moderate demand for 
a penny. 

After the battle of Preston, or Prestonpans, as, in order 
to distinguish it from the battle in the Fifteen, it is more 



156 The Early Hanoverimis. A. D. 1745 

commonly called, though the fight was nearer to the 
former than the latter village, the Prince marched back 
to Edinburgh, where he was received with acclamation. 
One distinguished exception was an old Presbyterian 
clergyman, who not only continued to pray for King 
George, but added this petition to his prayer : ' As to this 
young person who has come among us seeking an earthly 
crown, do Thou, in Thy merciful favour, give him a 
heavenly one.' It is to Charles's credit that the septua- 
genarian minister was left unmolested. 

Nothing succeeds like success, and almost all Scotland 
now appeared to be on his side. The castles of Edin- 
burgh and Stirling and the forts in the north 

Scotland ^. , . , °, ,. , , „ 

secured, gamsoncd With English troops seemed all 

ward starts' that remained true to King George. Those 
for London. ^\io were not Jacobites held their peace. For 
forty days the Prince was in Edinburgh consolidating his 
power, organising the new troops that joined him, levying 
money, and generally ordering his affairs ; and on Octo- 
ber 31 he left Edinburgh on march for London. There 
are many who think that the Prince should have pro- 
ceeded straight from the battle-field towards England, as 
there are many who think Hannibal should have marched 
upon Rome immediately after Cannse. This delay cer- 
tainly helped the Chevalier. Had he marched at once, it 
would have been with a much smaller army. Whenever 
he held a council he found that the opinions were in 
favour of delay. His councillors pointed out that one 
defeat meant ruin to the cause. Wait for more to join, 
wait for help from France, was the burden of their advice, 
which was wormwood to the young Prince. ' I see, gen- 
tlemen,' at length he said, ' you are determined to stay 
in Scotland and defend your country; but I am not less 
resolved to try my fate in England, though I should go 



A.D. 1745 The Forty-five. 157 

alone.' An English army under Marshal Wade was 
awaiting him in Northumberland, and the Prince, trusting 
in the dash of his Highlanders, was most anxious for a 
battle. It was well known that Wade, once an officer of 
great vigour and judgment, was growing old, and had 
lost much of his energy. As a compromise between the 
Prince's wish to march forward to instant battle, and the 
councillors' desire to avoid a battle, it was determined to 
invade England on the West. 

In marching from Edinburgh into England the Prince 
had a choice of two main routes, by the east or the west 
coast, through Berwick or through Carlisle. 
Had the invasion been made by Berwick Carlisle 

•' route. 

and Northumberland, an early battle with 
Wade's army would have been inevitable. Between the 
two routes there is the formidable mountain range called 
the Pennine chain, which forms the backbone or dividing 
range of England. The northern part of the other route 
was comparatively undefended, and it would have been 
difficult for even a more vigorous general than Wade to 
cross. 

Carlisle was the first English town to see the Highland 
army, and Carlisle, having a specially valiant mayor, de- 
termined to resist ; but after two days, at 
sight of trenches and siege operations, Car- march?'^'^ 
lisle capitulated. Though perpetyally met 
with advice to retreat into Scotland, the Prince advanced 
to Lancaster, and to Preston. Many of the Highlanders 
did not relish the march mto England, and the army had 
already begun to display that want of cohesion which 
marks a Highland army. Many deserters had already 
dropped off; indeed it was reckoned that the force had 
diminished from 5,500 to 4, 500 before Carlisle was reached. 
As Preston, in Lancashire, had been the scene of the de- 



158 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1745 

feat thirty years previously, the town was approached with 
an almost superstitious feeling that it would be the limit 
of the advance southwards. Hitherto hardly anyone in 
England had joined the Prince. At Preston cheers were 
raised for him ; at the Lancashire towns, that were just 
beginning to be the seat of the cotton trade, the enthu- 
siasm seemed to increase, until at Manchester a small 
res"iment was raised on the Prince's behalf. From Man- 
Chester the army marched on to Derby. 

A second English army had its head-quarters at Lich- 
field, under the Duke of Cumberland. Wade had been 
marchino- southwards upon the other side of 

Frepara- *-" '■ 

tions in the hills, and was perhaps two days' march 

England. , a t^ i i i -n i 

to the rear. At Derby the hills cease to be 
any obstacle, and there the small Highland force lay be- 
tween two English armies, each of which was numeric- 
ally stronger. Meanwhile, there was no sign of any rising 
in England to help the invaders. The English Jacobites 
looked on in amazement, and waited to see the result of 
this bold venture. The Prince was now as ever for bold- 
ness, still in favour of continuing the march on London, 
and at table at Derby he discussed the question how he 
should enter London, on horseback or on foot, in High- 
land or in Lowland garb. Derby is only 127 miles from 
London, and by quick marches he could have kept ahead 
both of Wade and Cumberland. George 11. was gather- 
ing U^on Finchley Common a third army, with the Guards 
for a nucleus, and this he was to command in person ; 
this army, however, was not ready, but in course of for- 
mation. The Prince hoped that a victory won, perhaps 
on Finchley Common, might have the same effect on the 
metropolis of England that the victory at Prestonpans 
had on Edinburgh ; but he would have found George a 
very different antagonist from Cope, and London much 



A.D. 1745 The Forty-five. 159 

less disposed to be friendly than Edinburgh, whilst behind 
him he would have had two powerful armies close at his 
heels. 

Those who like to conjecture what might have been 
are of opinion that, had the Chevalier's wish been granted, 
and the march continued to Derby, he would 

. Retreat. 

have recovered for his father the throne of his 
ancestors ; but they are also of opinion that neither his 
father nor he could have maintained it. This is, however, 
nothing more than conjecture. Charles Edward never 
marched to London, because his officers, more cautious 
than himself, and understanding better the dangers of 
the position, insisted upon retreat from Derby. Long 
and strenuously did he contend against their advice : 
' Rather than go back, I would wish to be twenty feet 
underground ! ' But neither the Prince's warmth in the 
council of war nor his most earnest private entreaties 
could persuade the leading officers, and at length he was 
compelled to give a sullen consent to the retreat. Little 
wonder that the young man felt the blow ; the com- 
mencement of the retreat on December 6 was the turning 
point of his fortunes. In the southward march the 
Prince is described as surrendering his private carriage 
to a follower in feeble health, and himself gaily march- 
ing on foot at the head of the clans, talking and laughing 
with the men, venturing on a few words of Gaelic. On 
the retreat he was always in the rear, riding dejectedly, 
all his gay spirits gone, often delaying the column, which 
would wait for him to come up. The feeling of the men 
was in harmony with that of the Prince. They were dis- 
tressed and indignant at the idea of retreat, for they had 
counted upon certain victory. Subsequent history shows 
us that the Prince and the men were right, the chief offi- 
cers wrong. Whatever chance of ultimate success the 



l6o The Early Haiiovcrians. A. D. 1745 

insurgents of the Forty-five ever had, that chance was 
lost. The whole expedition has been compared to the 
act of a gambler staking all on one throw ; but the gam- 
bler who hesitates is lost. 

The news of the retreat was an intense relief to England, 
or rather to the English Government. In London there 

had been a panic. The day on which the 
En^Tand "^ '" ncws of the Highland army's arrival at Derby 

was known in the city was long remembered 
as Black Friday. A run was made on the Bank of 
England, but the directors, by the expedient of paying 
their own clerks and paying in sixpences, procured delay 
for themselves, and avoided any fatal results. Indiffer- 
^ . ence was, however, a commoner feeling than 

Curiosity. 

fear. The people generally seemed to regard 
the contest for the crown as one in which they had no part. 
Mr. Gray, a travelled man of letters, soon to be known 
as a poet, wrote two months later to a friend from Cam- 
bridge, where doubtless there were Jacobites, though there 
would be more at Oxford : — 

' The common people, in town at least, know how to 
be afraid, but we are such uncommon people here as to 
have no more sense of danger than if the battle (Falkirk) 
had been fought where and when the battle of Cannae 
was. I heard three sensible, middle-aged men, when the 
Scotch were said to be at Stamford, and actually were at 
Derby, talking of hiring a chaise to go to Caxton (a place 
on the high-road) to see the Pretender and Highlanders 
as they passed.' 

In times of widespread and earnest loyalty, and under 
a popular sovereign, it is a little difficult for us to conceive 
the utter indifference of many people in England on the 
subject of the rebellion. Their feeling was doubtless well 
expressed in the witty epigram : 



A. D. 1746 The Forty-five. 1 61 

God bless (no harm in blessing !) the Pretender. 
Which the Pretender is, and which the King, 
God bless us all, that's quite another thing. 

The Duke of Cumberland followed with his dragoons 
after the retreating Highlanders. At the village of Clif- 
ton, near Penrith, a skirmish took place in 
which the English were repulsed with con- ^^hV"™'^^ ^' 

. . . Clifton. 

siderable loss. This skirmish has the honour 
of being the last battle fought on the soil of England. On 
December 20 the Prince, leaving a small garrison in Car- 
lisle, withdrew the main body of his troops, who re-entered 
their own country just six weeks after they had left it. 
The distance marched from the Scotch border to Derby 
is about 185 miles. 

If the French ministers had seized the opportunity 
to make an invasion of England in force, whilst Charles 
Edward was still advancing, the situation of 
the English Government would have been ^° French 

^ lorce came. 

even more critical. But when the turn came 
and the retreat took place, the French armament was 
still in preparation at Dunkirk. Indeed, the news of the 
retreat caused the stage of preparation never to be 
passed, though Cumberland and his troops were sum- 
moned to the south coast of England to face the French 
force. 

The command against the rebels was taken from the 
aged Wade and entrusted to General Hawley, a rough 
and brutal soldier, violent of temper, cruel, 
hated by his own men, and trained in the Hawley in 

Scotland. 

worst traditions of the continental war. Haw- 
ley was full of sneers against Cope, and of boasts that with 
two regiments of dragoons he could ride over the High- 
land army. The first care of the general was to erect gib- 

M 



l62 The Early Hanoverians. a. d, 1746 

bets in Edinburgh for rebels who should fall into his 
hands. Whilst the Prince had gained nothing by the ad- 
vance into England, his cause had through his absence 
lost ground in Scotland ; the complete ascendency of his 
friends which prevailed after Prestonpans now disap- 
peared. 

The Prince encamped his army on the field of Ban- 
nockburn ; he said it would be a good omen to the Scotch 

cause to fight the battle there. Two nights 
Falkfrk* ^^^ days he waited, but Hawley came not. 

Then, determined to bring on the fight, 
the Scotch marched forwards. General Hawley was 
being most hospitably entertained by a lady of the 
neighbourhood, whose husband was with the rebel 
army, and who had on that account done her utmost 
by hospitality to detain the English general. Probably 
through contempt for his foe, whom he was fond of 
describing as a Highland rabble, Hawley had sent out 
no patrols and had no information as to their move- 
ments. On the right of the English the rebels had 
made with all their cavalry a feint of an attack, and those 
in the camp thought the attack would come from this 
side, when it was found that the main body of Highlanders 
were advancing on the other side. Hawley galloped 
out now, breathless and without his hat, and at once 
ordered the dragoons to advance with him. Between 
him and the rebels lay Falkirk Moor, a lofty rugged heath. 
It was a race between the Highlanders and Hawley's 
dragoons, but a race which the latter won ; and, taking 
advantage of their better position, charged. It was un- 
fortunate for Hawley that two out of three dragoon regi- 
ments which he had were the regiments that had fled 
in the Canter at Coltbrigg and at Prestonpans. It was 
bad management to keep these men in the field against 



A. D. 1746 The Forty-five. 163 

the Scotch. The Highlanders with the utmost coolness 
reserved their fire until the cavalry were within ten yards 
of them, and then gave a tremendous volley. This had 
the effect of breaking the line ; those horsemen who per- 
severed were pulled from their horses, whilst the horses 
were stabbed by the Highland dirks. Meanwhile a violent 
storm of wind and heavy rain came on driving full in the 
faces of Hawley's infantry. All the centre and left were 
defeated, but on the right, owing to the fact that the 
troops were fresh, better commanded, and better placed, 
the English had the best of it. They were behind a 
ravine in such fashion that the Scotch could not charge 
across it. On this wing many Highlanders fled, so that 
to some extent the battle of Sheriffmuir was being re- 
peated in the different issue on the two wings, but the 
second line of the Scotch coming up checked the advance 
of the English right. That night the English retreated 
from Falkirk, which the Prince occupied ; but once 
more mortification was in store for the Prince, once more 
there came a blow from his "best friends. 

Twice victorious, never as yet defeated, and only 
successfully resisted by very strong fortresses, a second 
time was this unfortunate king compelled to 
retreat. The English troops were unable to A^*^'' ^^^ 

'^ '- victory. 

conquer the brave little Highland army; but 
that army was so small that it could not hold a district of 
any extent; and, besides the fact that it was small, it had 
the fatal tendency to dwindle. The victorious Highlanders 
went off to carry home their booty. After his experience 
at Derby the Prince would hold no more councils, but 
the officers met and sent a memorial to the Prince 
pointing out that the only way to extricate the army from 
its imminent danger was to march into the Highlands, 
master the forts, and in the spring, collecting a larger 



164 The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1746 

army, issue forth again. The Prince was in despair, but 

was forced once more to yield ; but on this 

■^^*.u^^' J occasion as at the retreat from Derby the 

northwards. _ ... 

Prince was right, his advisers wrong. There 
is nothing left but to describe the final scenes of this 
romantic episode in history. 

The son of the Pretender was to be faced by the son 
of the King. The news of Falkirk arrived in London 

on the day of a royal drawing-room, at which 
Arrival of j^ ^g^g gg^j^j evcry face was overwhelmed 

Lumberland. _ •' 

with consternation, except that of the King, 
too brave to show fear, and that of Sir John Cope, who 
felt that his own defeat was now eclipsed. It was at 
once determined to send the Duke of Cumberland into 
Scotland. He was a few years younger than Charles 
Edward. Full of energy, esteemed by the army for the 
bravery he had shown at Fontenoy, he might fairly be 
expected to bring with him zeal for his father's house, 
and to let the Scotch see that this rebellion was no longer 
despised as unimportant. The Duke came to Scotland 
in the nick of time for success. On January 30 he slept 
in Holyrood Palace, and it was noticed that the day was 
of ill omen for the house of Stuart. Next day he set out 
against the enemy, but on February i,the Prince, com- 
pelled by the memorial of his officers, broke up his camp 
before Stirling and commenced, more than ever dejected 
and miserable, his northward retreat. Some advisers 
told Cumberland that a battle would not be necessary, for 
that the Highland army, following its usual habits, would 
of itself disperse ; but as others assured him that a nu- 
cleus would still remain together, the Duke determined 
to follow, but slowly and with an overpowering force. 
A large body of Hessian troops came up to Edinburgh, 
the inhabitants of which town are said to have found 



A. D. 1746 The Forty-five. 165 

them better behaved than the Enghsh soldiers, and even 
to have imitated them in their taste in snuff. By leaving 
these troops in garrison, Cumberland was able to take 
more English regiments with him. The English navy, 
too, was more upon the alert, and succeeded in cutting 
off some French cavalry whom arrangements were just 
made to disembark from the ships which had brought 
them from France. The Duke now advanced slowly 
towards the north, fixing his headquarters first at Perth, 
and afterwards at Aberdeen. Meantime the Highland 
army was in a terrible plight. The Prince had no money 
and was obliged to pay his soldiers in meal, whilst even 
of meal the supply was scant. When his troops were 
camped on Culloden Moor, one of the officers said 
that the heath ' served both for bedding and fuel, 
the cold being very severe.' Moreover, the schism 
between Charles and his chief officers which had 
been earlier shown at the two retreats, as well as 
the jealousies of the clans, were on the increase. Wel- 
come was the news that Cumberland was nigh and battle 
impending. 

Culloden, or, as it was more properly called, Drum- 
mossie Moor, is a high table-land lying about five miles 
to the east of Inverness. On the part of 

T^ . ^1 1 . . , , , Culloden. 

Prince Charles it was most unwisely selected 
as a battlefield, for, being level, it offered good scope for 
artillery and for cavalry, and in these two arms the Eng- 
lish were strong, the Prince very weak. From previous 
experience the Prince had naturally great confidence in 
the effects of a charge of his Highlanders. Weary of 
delay, he probably felt himself as sure of victory as at 
Prestonpans and thought such a victory was needed for 
his cause. But the circumstances were different. Troops 
in better disciphne, and a general with fresher knowledge, 



1 66 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746 

were opposed to him, whilst his own army had suffered 
the discouragement of retreat. 

As Cumberland advanced from Aberdeen, Charles to 
meet him issued forth from Inverness, a place of great 
importance to him, often called the capital of 
the Highlands. Knowing that in attack rather 
than defence lay the Highlanders' strength, Charles and 
his officers agreed upon a scheme for a night attack upon 
the Duke's camp. But the men were exhausted by 
fatigue, starvation and cold, and not in case like those 
who had charged at Prestonpans or gaily marched to 
Derby. Some dispersed in search of food ; some dropped 
out of the ranks, the night being very dark ; the march 
was delayed, and day dawned before the attack could 
be made. The dispirited troops fell back, in the early 
morning (of April 16), upon Culloden Moor. The Prince 
rejected the advice to retreat into the hill country ; trust- 
ing in the valour of his men, which had never failed him, 
he would not avoid a battle. He had not, however, made 
sufficient allowance for the physical exhaustion of his 
men. One ' sea biscuit to each man ' was the only pro- 
vision for his army on the day before the battle. The 
Duke, it is true, said his own men would fight more 
actively with empty bellies, but the difference was be- 
tween men generally starved and men kept waiting for 
their breakfast. It may be added that the battle was 
fought between men who had been up all night and men 
who had had their usual sleep. The Chevalier's army was 
diminished by the desertion of stragglers in search of 
food or rest, and certainly in the battle that followed 
Cumberland's army was nearly double that of his oppo- 
nent. A spirited address from Cumberland animated 
his army for the fight ; he begged all who did not want 
to face the Highlanders to withdraw, and he was answered 



A.D. 1746 The Forty-five. 167 

by the men with shouts of 'Flanders !' The Duke took 
up his position on a large boulder a quarter of mile in the 
rear of his army. The battle began with the artillery. 
The English guns were well served and did such execu- 
tion upon the Highlanders that, unable to stand the fire 
any longer, with a fierce and passionate rage the clans- 
men on the right charged, and broke the first English 
line ; but the Duke, expecting this, had specially strength- 
ened the second line, which received them with a terrible 
fire and forced them back. The bravest were destroyed ; 
the broken remnant fled towards Inverness hotly pursued 
by English dragoons. On the left of the Prince's line 
was stationed the clan MacDonald, but they claimed as 
a prerogative of their clan the honour of fighting on the 
right, and now stood sullen. They saw their chief shot 
before their eyes, heard his dying exclamation, ' My God ! 
have the children of my tribe forsaken me ? ' but they 
stood sullen still and inactive, whilst the rest of the army 
was being defeated ; and then they retreated in good 
order, — one more proof of the inherent weakness of a 
Highland army. 

The story ran that ere the battle was quite over, Lord 
Elcho rode up to the young Prince, and asked him, who 
once had promised to conquer or to die, to p^ , 
place himself at the head of his troops and Edward's 
lead a final charge. When the Prince hesi- 
tated, it is added that Lord Elcho cursed him to his face, 
and swore that he would never look upon him again. 
Doubts have been cast upon this story, and an account 
that rests upon better evidence is that the Prince was 
forced from the battle-field by an attendant who seized 
his bridle rein, 

Very complete was the victory at Culloden, and with 
it the last chance of Jacobite success came to an end. 



1 68 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746 

The embers of the Rebelhon were stamped out with great 
severity, or ratlier cruehy, the worst inciters to which 
were the chief officers of the royal army, especially the 
Duke of Cumberland and General Hawley, who thought 
that he was avenging Falkirk. For his conduct in the 

days after Culloden the nickname ' butcher ' 
After the ^3^5 given to the Duke. With this cruelty 

many writers have contrasted the clemency 
of Prince Charles towards his prisoners after the battles 
that he had won. The contrast is very marked, but the 
difference in their positions must be remembered. Prince 
Charles was raising a rebellion and naturally anxious to 
win support by showing that a change, in the dynasty 
would be a gain to the country. Even the most violent 
Jacobite could hardly treat adhesion to the established 
government as a crime. Cumberland was putting down 
a rebellion against his father's house, a rebellion which 
was not only legally a crime, but might fairly be consid- 
ered even by those who did not love the house of Bruns- 
wick as a wanton disturbance by war, and to some extent 
by rapine, of a nation enjoying internal peace under a 
settled government. The clemency of a rebel may be 
honourable to him, and though partly due to policy it was , 
honourable to Charles, but clemency in an established 
government may be attributed to weakness, and may 
almost take the form of invitation to further rebellion. 
Revolutions cannot be made with rose-water, much less 
put down with it ; and those who take the sword shall 
perish by the sword. It is the simple duty of an estab- 
lished government to protect itself. This defence, how- 
ever, applies rather to the execution of rebels after trial 
on the §caffold, than to the cruelty of Cumberland and 
Hawley in the neighbourhood of Culloden and imme- 
diately after the battle. When a noble and upright judge, 



A. D. 1746 The Forty-five. 169 

who had done more than any other to support the Gov- 
ernment in the time of trouble, assured Cumberland that 
his acts were contrary to law, this was his brutal answer : 
' The laws, my lord ! I'll make a brigade give laws,' and 
he afterwards spoke of his adviser as ' that old woman 
who talked to me about humanity.' The sufferings of the 
inhabitants at the hands of the dragoons are described as 
terrible. The English soldiers under orders shot the men, 
burnt their houses, and drove women and children forth 
to die. 

Amongst the victors at Culloden were soldiers who 
had thrice run away, and there is a proverb that ' cowards 
are always cruel.' Side by side with real cruelty it sounds 
a mere childish insult, when we read that the Pretender's 
standards were carried into Edinburgh by chimney- sweeps, 
and burnt by the common hangman. 

From fear lest the Scotch should be too full of sym- 
pathy with their countrymen, the prisoners were brought, 
almost in droves, to England to be tried. At 
Carlisle and York a great many trials were Punishment 

<^ ■> of rebels. 

held, and many prisoners found guilty. Few, 
however, were executed with all the savage formalities of 
the cruel law of treason. Three peers and seventy-three 
commoners is the number of those who suffered death, 
whilst a great many more were transported to the 
colonies in America. Fourteen months after the battle 
of Culloden an Act of Indemnity was passed granting 
pardon to all the survivors who, according to the quaint 
expression common for years after, had been ' out ' in 
the Forty-five, but excepting by name eighty of the most 
important who had escaped. This was followed by other 
Acts of Parliament" intended to break the Highland 
disaffection. By one the Highlanders were to be dis- 
armed, severe, penalties being attached to the possession 



170 The Early Hanoverians. A. Do 1746 

or concealment of any weapon ; moreover, the High- 
landers were forbidden their peculiar dress, under pain 
of six months' imprisonment for the first offence, seven 
years' transportation for the second. Of all the measures 
this last provision, in that it wounded feeling, was the 
most unpopular. By other Acts the hereditary jurisdic- 
tions and military service were brought to an end ; these 
were relics of feudalism and greatly assisted clanship. 
The chief of a clan had judicial power over all its mem-' 
bers, and the jurisdiction of all chiefs throughout Scotland 
was bought for a sum of money (152,000/.), which Parlia- 
ment granted. The tenure of land for military service, 
which was of the very essence of feudalism, having in 
England fallen into disuse, had been formally abolished 
in the year of the Restoration (1660). In the Highlands 
of Scotland it had continued with greater vitality, and had 
given the chiefs their power and the Pretender his army. 
The object of these statutes was to break the power of 
the clans. Other statutes of an intolerant character were 
passed with the view of crushing the Episcopal Church 
of Scotland — a religious body always notoriously on the 
Jacobite side, because in the time of William III. it had 
ceased to be the established Church in Scotland, and 
naturally connected the cause of the Stuarts with their 
own. Yet James and Charles Edward were both Roman 
Catholics, and sincerely attached to their own form of 
religion. 

These measures were all intended to coerce the High- 
landers and to stop the spirit of disaffection ; but, of 
course, they only created discontent with the 
Highland English Government. A very wise idea on 

regiments. ° 

the part of the great Lord Chatham was car- 
ried out within a dozen years of the Rebellion — the enrol- 
ment of Highland regiments. Amongst the Highlanders 



A.D. 1746 The Forty-five. 171 

fighting was their profession. There was not on their 
mountain homes sufficient peaceful occupation to keep all 
employed, and the frequent risings of the Highlanders 
have been explained on the same principle on which the 
doctors formerly bled their patients. They were hot- 
blooded, and fighting was needed. In order to gratify 
their taste, many Highlanders had gone abroad, joined 
foreign armies, and won great renown. Noble families 
on the Continent trace their origin to Scotchmen who 
had been soldiers of fortune in French or Prussian 
armies. On some battle-fields they crossed swords with 
the English. Excellent was the suggestion that this en- 
thusiasm should be used against the enemies of England. 
Henceforward there were no braver and no better soldiers 
in the army of the United Kingdom than the Highland 
regiments, and many a victory in every part of the world 
makes it impossible to over-estimate the debt that England 
owes them. From this time forward the long-fostered 
discontent against the Union began to disappear, and Eng- 
lish and Scotch began to feel themselves one people. 

After the defeat of his army at CuUoden and utter 
downfall of his cause the young Chevalier was for more 
than five months in imminent danger of his 
life, wandering from place to place, an out- Edward 
cast and a fugitive. A very large reward, baule^^ 
30,000/., probably in purchasing power 
equivalent to 100,000/. in our day, was offered for his cap- 
ture. During his wanderings hundreds must have been 
in a position to earn this reward : none did. No fact speaks 
more for the honour and fidelity of the Highlanders and for 
the love that they bore the Prince. Oftentimes the Prince 
was miserably lodged in some hut or cave with outlaws like 
himself, or with poor herdsmen ; oftentimes he was almost 
starved. The most famous incident in connection with this 



J 72 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 1746 

time is the way in which Flora Macdonald enabled him 
to escape when the pursuit was hottest, no less than 2,000 
men being engaged in searching a single island (South 
Uist). The Prince was disguised as a female servant in 
attendance upon Miss Flora Macdonald, who in her 
single self may be said to have atoned for the miscon- 
duct of her clan at CuUoden. Apparently the Prince 
wore his disguise but awkwardly, and in crossing streams 
now holding his petticoats too high, now letting them 
float on the water, so that one who was with him re- 
marked, ' Your enemies call you a pretender ; but if you 
be, I can tell you that you are the worst at your trade I 
ever saw.' One young officer in the Prince's army, re- 
sembling the Prince somewhat in height and appearance, 
tried to divert pursuit from him by exclaiming when he 
was wounded, 'Villains, you have slain your prince.' For 
some little time it was believed that the Prince was really 
slain. Then the pursuit recommenced. At length, how- 
ever, the young Chevalier was able to embark on board 
a French frigate, with about a hundred of his followers, 
and to set foot once again on the shore of France. 

It may be as well here to follow to its close the melan- 
choly story of the young Prince and of his house. Eng- 
land being at war with France, the French welcomed the 
Scotch fugitives ; made them money grants, and in other 
ways helped them. 

But two years later France was preparing to close 

the war with the peace signed a little later at Aix-la- 

Chapelle. The French Government then 

Charles found Princc Charles an awkward guest, and 

livdward ex- ^ 

peiied from begged him to retire from France, offering 

him an honourable asylum in Switzerland 

with a pension and the nominal title of Prince of Wales. 

Having refused this honourable offer, he was seized one 



A.D. 1746 The Forty -five. 173 

evening as he was going to the opera in Paris, hurried at 
first to prison, and then out of France into the small terri- 
tory held by the Pope at Avignon. 

From town to town the unhappy Prince wandered, 
now more than ever an outcast. He gave great offence 
to the dwindling remnants of his supporters 
by admittino- to his intimacy the sister of the ^y^ ^^'^^'' 

■' ° _ •' history. 

housekeeper to the Prince of Wales, who was 
suspected of betraying Jacobite secrets. Charles Edward, 
refused to listen to the suggestion of his own supporters 
that this intimacy should be brought to a close. There- 
upon the Jacobite party was practically broken up, though 
it may have much longer had an existence in sentiment 
both in England and in Scotland. 

More than once the Prince is said to have himself 
visited London, the most famous tradition, though it is 
little more than a tradition, being that he was present in 
Westminster Abbey at the coronation of King George III. 
On the death of his father, the old Pretender, in 1766 at 
the advanced age of seventy-eight, as the different 
courts of Europe refused to acknowledge in any way the 
son as King of Great Britain, the latter assumed the 
title of Count of Albany. He married a German prin- 
cess much younger than himself, but they lived very 
unhappily together ; for in the later years of his life there 
is no doubt that this gallant Prince, in whom so many 
hopes had once been centred, yielded to degrading 
habits of intoxication : it is said that the taste for whisky 
began during his exposure to cold on his flight in Scot- 
land. He died at Rome, January 31, 1788, on the day 
after the anniversary of the execution of his great-grand- 
father, one century later than the Revolution which cost 
his grandfather his throne, and only one year before 
the greater Revolution which shook so many thrones. 



174 The Eai^ly Hanoverians. A. d. 1746 

On the death of Charles Edward the heir was his 
younger brother Henry, who had been ad- 
Cardmal mitted into holy orders in the Roman Catho- 

^°''^- lie Church, and who was made a cardinal by 

the Pope. The Cardinal never asserted his claim to the 
throne, but once issued a medal, representing him in car- 
dinal's robes with the crown and sceptre in the back- 
ground, and bearing the motto, ' Voluntate Dei non 
desiderio populi.' 

In his latter days King George III. granted the Cardi- 
nal a pension of 4,000/. a year, and when this last of the 
Stuarts died at Rome in 1807, he bequeathed to the King 
of England all the crown jewels which his grandfather, 
King James II., had taken with him on his hasty retreat 
from England. 

In the cathedral church of St. Peter's at Rome stands 
a monument by the eminent sculptor Canova. It was 
erected at the expense of the Prince Regent. On it is 
this simple inscription : 

JACCBO III., JACOBI II. MAGN. BRIT. REGIS FILIO, 

CAROLO EDUARDO ET HENRICO, DECANO 

PATRUM CARDINALIUM, JACOBI III. FILIIS 

REGIiE STIRPIS STUARDI^E POSTREMIS 

ANNO MDCCCXIX. 

BEATI MORTUI QUI IN DOMINO MORIUNTUR. 



CHAPTER X. 

REMAINDER OF CONTINENTAL WAR. 

The battle of Fontenoy was followed by a series of suc- 
cesses in the Netherlands, Marshal Saxe winning for the 
French town after town. His campaigns are like the re- 



A. D. 1746 Reinainder of Contmental War. 175 

versal of Marlborough's campaigns. Marlborough took 
some years to clear the French out of the 
many strong fortresses of which Belgium is pares to 
full. The Dutch called them the Barrier Fort- Hofiand 
resses. When the process was complete Marl- 
borough was preparing to invade France, but his plans 
were frustrated by his removal from the command. Saxe 
was now reversing the process, gaining the same set of 
fortresses, and intending when they were all gained to 
invade Holland. Other generals might have risked 
somewhat, have masked the fortresses, and not caring 
that the enemy would be to rear of them, have made a 
rush upon their prey. Both Marlborough and Saxe could 
be dashing, even rash when needed. Saxe was so 
naturally inclined in that direction that he put constraint 
on himself in adopting the method of fighting which was 
more in accordance with rules. The solid and careful 
mode which he adopted was, it may be added, approved 
by Frederick the Great. 

Yet the capture of Brussels was of the dashing order. 
In those days it was the fashion to withdraw armies from 
the field and put them into winter quarters. 

• r ^11 111-1 Brussels. 

Before the winter of 1745-6 had ended, whilst 
the army was in winter quarters at Ghent amusing itself 
with French lightness of heart, and whilst the Court was 
unable to understand why Saxe did not return to Paris 
during the season of inaction, Saxe suddenly gave orders 
to march on Brussels, and in three weeks took it. His 
letters to the Austrian commandant inviting surrender 
are remarkable for their humanity. Saxe wished to 
preserve the suburbs from destruction and the city from 
plunder. Unfortunately, as the campaigns continued, 
Saxe became less particular in the matter of plunder. 
He who at first would take no share began to help him- 



176 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1746 

self, and the reason given is that he feared the ingrati- 
tude of the Court and knew the strength of the cabals 
against him. In the course of the year the strong 
places, Antwerp and Namur, familiar, as all 

Other towns. \ ^ , ■ • • •, , • •, • 

these Belgian cities have been, with sieges 
and storming, yielded to him. In connection with the 
latter he fought a battle which was a very murderous 
conflict. The allied army was under Prince Charles, the 
brother of the Emperor, Duke William of Cumberland 
being engaged in that year in the Highlands. Prince 
Charles tried to force Saxe to raise the siege of Namur, 
but could not. Saxe kept him off until the town was his, 
then offered battle at Roucoux, a little to the north of 
Liege, thoroughly beating him. The English troops it is 
said bore the brunt of the attack, and the French victory 
was very dearly purchased. By the end of this cam- 
paign one may say that the road was quite clear for Saxe 
to invade Holland. In the spring of the following year 
the French formally declared war on Holland, and in- 
vasion began at the western end of the frontier. Sub- 
ordinate generals under Saxe's command promptly seized 
that portion of Flanders which Holland had conquered 
and joined to the province of Zealand. The English 
sent a fleet to restore confidence ; but the rage of the 

Dutch against their rulers led to a rising in 
Stadt^^ ° which the people demanded that the office 

holdership. Qf Stadtholder should be revived. It had 
been in abeyance for forty-five years since the death of 
William III. of England. 

The Duke of Cumberland having finished his task in 

Scotland, was back again commanding the 
Battle of troops in the Netherlands, and after his vic- 

Lauffeld. ^ ... 

tory atCulloden, burning with desire to wipe 
out the memory of Fontenoy. The English and Austrian 



A.D, 1746 Remainder of Continental War. 177 

troops had in Roucoux a second defeat to efface. King 
Lewis was equally anxious for a battle. On July 2 the 
battle took place at Lauffeld, which lies to the west of 
Maestricht and not a dozen miles from the field of Rou- 
coux. Saxe perceived that the village of Lauffeld would 
be the key of the fight. Cumberland apparently had 
not perceived it, and had only slightly fortified the vil- 
lage. When too late fully to remedy this error, he 
poured his troops into the place in a huge column. It 
was like a repetition of Fontenoy, except that the column 
had its front protected by the village ; moreover, it was 
marching along a hollow road. The story runs that a 
friend said to Saxe, ' You were dying at Fontenoy, and 
yet you won ; you were better at Roucoux, and you won ; 
you are too well to-day not to crush.' A cavalry charge 
broke the allied column. A gigantic effort was then 
made and the village taken, so that the movements at 
Fontenoy were repeated in reverse order : first the gen- 
eral charge, then the artillery from the front pouring 
down the column's length. The King complained after- 
wards that the marshal had exposed himself like a 
grenadier. Perhaps a still graver fault was that he did 
not follow up his victory, but allowed the Austrians, who 
had hardly taken any part in the battle, to withdraw un- 
molested. Again it was generally expected that the 
immediate result of the victory would be the 
siege of Maestricht. But Saxe sent a lieu- Bergen op 

^ _ Zoom. 

tenant to continue the campaign on the 
western coast by besieging Bergen op Zoom. Now this 
town was thought a masterpiece of fortification, and is 
still very strong ; but up to this time it had never been 
taken, and though it has suffered many a siege, it has 
only been taken on this and on one later occasion by the 
French. Saxe wished to strike fear into the Dutch by 



178 The Early Hanoverians. A. d. 1746 

taking their impregnable fortress. In sixty-three days 
Bergen op Zoom fell. Then of the strong fortresses only 
Maestricht was left, and early next year he marched on 
Maestricht, duly besieged and took it. Immediately on 
the fall of this last fortress the preliminaries of peace 
were signed. It may be observed in connection with 
the capture of these fortresses by the French that tactics 
had changed. Instead of relying upon the slow process 
of sapping and underminmg, the French brought up • 
heavy batteries of cannon and bombarded furiously. 
This was a much speedier method. 

While in the Netherlands the French were gaining, in 
Central Europe and in Italy the Austrian cause prospered. 

Sardinia, which was watching carefully her 
elsewhere. own interests, joined Austria and England. 

The result was that the troops of France and 
Spain were driven back. But in June 1745, apparently 
as one of the results of Fontenoy, the Republic of Genoa 
joined France and Spain, and the balance began to in- 
chne against Austria. Both Milan and Parma were cap- 
tured. After the Peace of Dresden more Austrian troops, 
being no longer wanted against Prussia, were poured into 
Italy. In the middle of 1746 the French and Spaniards 
were defeated in the battle of Piacenza. The Austrians 
followed up their success, and driving the Spaniards quite 
out of Lombardy took Genoa also. Their next step was 
actually to invade Provence. Many of the French themx- 
selves could not understand the policy by which all the 
French efforts seemed to be concentrated on the war in 
the Netherlands, whilst so little energy was displayed in 
the war in the south. This side of the war must be re- 
membered, as it helps to explain the eagerness of the 
French for peace in spite of the northern victories. When 
the Austrians had seized Genoa they treated the inhabi- 



A. D. 1748 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 179 

tants so badly, especially in the matter of exactions, that 
the latter rose against the troops and drove them out of 
the city. Of course the Austrians returned again and 
laid siege to Genoa. The ' queenly city with its streets of 
palaces rising tier above tier from the water, girdling with 
the long lines of its bright white houses the vast sweep of 
its harbour,' 1 made a most valiant and heroic defence, 
holding out until it was relieved by the French, and not 
again falling; into the hands of the Austrians. 



CHAPTER XI. 

PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 

The campaigns in the Netherlands were wholly in 
favour of the French, and it is no wonder that by the 
early part of 1748 the Dutch and the English „ - 
thought that the v/ar had continued long things that 

IGQ. to T)G3.CG 

enough. The Dutch were not only utterly 
exhausted but in imminent peril. They saw their cities, 
even their strongest, falling one after the other into the 
hands of Marshal Saxe. It seemed impossible to resist 
him, and if they did not speedily come to terms they ex- 
pected that their whole land would be overrun. The 
English also were gaining nothing from the war and began 
to ask themselves what possible advantage could come 
to them from it. The expense was enormous, as the war 
had already cost sixty-four millions. It does not appear 
that much of this large sum had been spent in fighting 
Spain, for the Spanish part figures only at the beginning 
of the war, and then became an affair of privateering. 
The privateers repaid themselves and did not cost the 

1 Dr. Arnold. 



i8o The Early Hanoverians. A. D. 1748 

treasury a penny. The whole expenditure had therefore 
gone for the maintenance of the balance of power in 
Europe. On the other hand, to one who considers only 
the war in the Netherlands, it would seem that France 
was behaving with unexampled magnanimity. Having 
won all the victories, she was prepared to forego the 
advantages arising from them. The French were win- 
ning back their ancient glory, and Saxe was atoning for 
Marlborough. Yet after every battle King Lewis said 
that he only desired peace ; with a message to that 
effect he released the English general who had been 
taken prisoner at Lauffeld. He wished to behave, he 
said, ' not like a merchant but like a king.' In truth, 
France was thoroughly exhausted by the heavy taxation 
for the war. Though successful in the Netherlands, in 
Provence she had suffered invasion ; her colonial pos- 
sessions both in America and in India were captured or 
threatened, and her navy, never very strong, was all but 
annihilated. Since the death of King Philip of Spain, 
France was practically deserted by her former ally, for 
Philip's successor, Ferdinand the Wise, was very luke- 
warm in supporting the war. Moreover, a new power 
was being added to the aUiance against France. Chiefly 
through the aid of heavy English subsidies, Russia had 
been induced to send a large army into the fiela. This 
army was on the march for the seat of war when the 
negotiations for peace began. 

Early in 1748 a congress was summoned at the old cap- 
ital of Charles the Great, Aachen, or Aix-la-Chapelle, a 
^ city famous for congresses, perhaps selected 

Congress •' t> ' r f 

at Aix- for that purpose because since the days of 

la-Chapelle. , t-> • i i r • 

the Romans it has been a favourite watering- 
place. Now Maria Theresa was by no means as anxious 
as the others for peace. She was gaining from the v/ar, 



A. D. 1748 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 181 

and not being in a position to lose much, seemed to care 
little how much Holland and England lost and expended 
on her behalf. Seeing the reluctance shown by her am- 
bassador at the Congress, the representatives of Holland, 
England, and France acted separately, and late at night, 
or early in the morning of April 30, the preliminaries 
of peace were signed between them. Diplomacy in 
those days, as one hundred years earlier at the pe'ace 
of Westphalia, was slow in movement. The preliminaries 
put a stop to the fighting, and the diplomatists then 
worked for nearly six months, chiefly in overcoming the 
objections of Maria Theresa. The definitive treaty, 
which hardly varied from the preliminaries, was signed 
on October 18. 

Yet the arrangements made were simple enough, for 
in most matters it was a return to what is called the status 
quo ante belluni. All conquests v/ere to be 
mutually surrendered. Thus England gave pe^ace^ 
back the island of Cape Breton, a colony of 
the French in North America, and called by them lie 
Royale, but taken during this war by the New Englanders, 
who dismantled Louisburg, the capital, which has ever 
since been left a heap of ruins. Ten years later, in the 
Seven Years' War, the English won the island back, and 
it still forms part of our colony of Nova Scotia. France, 
on her side, gave up all her conquests in the Netherlands, 
apparently much more substantial gains. The right of 
Frederick the Great to Silesia, as settled by the Peace of 
Dresden, was recognised. It is no wonder that Austria 
did not like the treaty, for she had not only to acquiesce 
in the cession of this important province, but to yield 
sundry places in the Milanese to the King of Sardinia. 
She also lost the duchy of Parma, which, with the duchy 
of Piacenza taken from Sardinia, was to be assigned to 



1 82 The Early Hanoverians. a.d. 1748 

Don Philip, the second son of the King of Spain ; only 
the condition was added that if he died or became King of 
Naples, the duchies were to be restored, Parma to Austria, 
and Piacenza to Sardinia. Dunkirk was to be dismantled 
on the sea side according to former treaties. France 
agreed not only to give up supporting the Pretender, but 
even to make him leave France. As has been already nar- 
rated, he refused to go upon persuasion, and the stipulation 
of the treaty was only carried out by the use of actual force. 

Austria's gain (besides escaping the dismemberment 
originally proposed) was solely that France agreed to 
acknowledge the Emperor and to recognise the Prag- 
matic Sanction, that is, Maria Theresa's right to her 
father's dominions. 

It is certainly curious that in the treaty no mention 
was made of the right of search which had led to the 
^ . war between England and Spain. Yet this 

Questions "-^ ^. 

not really was the One matttcr of real importance to 

England. Was she to have free access for 
her trade and for her expansion to the New World ? The 
question of the balance of power in Europe really affected 
England very little, and, if it had not been for Hanover, 
might have been disregarded by Enghsh statesmen. It 
is strange that the Spanish war was, after a spasmodic 
effort at first, always allowed to languish, while such 
efforts were being put forth on the Continent of Europe. 
The Spanish war perhaps was needed. With respect to 
all the rest, Walpole's policy would have been much the 
wisest. ' Fifty thousand men slain this year in Europe,' 
said he during the Polish Succession War, ' and not one 
Englishman.' Had it not been for the war, the rebellion, 
the Forty-five, would not have taken place. And all the 
fighting, all the expenditure, was in vain. When, through 
sheer exhaustion, the combatants dropped or sheathed 



A. D. 1749 Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. 183 

their swords, there was positively no change in the posi- 
tion of affairs. But the seeds of a later and crueller war 
were sown. The long but somewhat intermittent war now 
ended was but the prelude of the Seven Years' War. 

Lord Chesterfield, who was very desirous that peace 
should be made — certainly a laudable desire — declares in 
a letter to a friend, that by the peace England 
was saved from bankruptcy ; in another letter, ^^^\ °^ 
just before the Congress, he had said that 
" money was never so scarce in the city nor the stocks so 
low, even during the rebellion ; twelve per cent, is offered 
for money, and even that will not do.' This can only 
have been temporary. England can hardly have been 
so exhausted as Lord Chesterfield thought, for her finances 
soon improved. In the year following the treaty the 
Three per cents, were above par ; and measures were taken 
by the ministry to redeem the Four per cents, and to consol- 
idate the whole national debt at three per cent. This does 
not look like exhaustion, but like extraordinary prosperity. 

After the peace there was a large disbandment of sol- 
diers, the army being reduced by as many as 20,000 men. 
It was feared that these men would not be 
ready to return to quiet paths of industry ; emigrate to 
and in order to prevent trouble and to stop s^°^^ 
discontent, concerted emigration on a large 
scale was proposed. Nova Scotia was the colony selected, 
and grants of land as well as of a free passage, together 
with the necessaries of life for one year, were made to 
men and to officers who left the army. It is said that 
these soldiers proved excellent colonists. Nova Scotia 
had originally been a French colony, under the name of 
Acadie. In the reign of James I. the English took it from 
them, and it was to pay for the expense of this colony that 
James I. instituted the order of baronets, selling admission 



184 The Early Hanoverians. a. d, 1749 

to it. The colony became a bone of contention between 
the two nations, passing now to one now to the other, until 
it was finally ceded to the English by the Peace of Utrecht. 
In France the hero of the war was Marshal Saxe. At 
the court there were cabals against him. On the ground of 
his being Protestant, objections had been 
Marshal urged against his promotion to the position of 

Marshal. But the people admired him and 
showed their admiration whenever he appeared in public. 
In the first fervour of enthusiasm after Fontenoy, the 
King presented him with a royal palace, Chambord, near 
Blois, on the Loire. This large palace, built in the style 
of the Renaissance, in the heart of a great forest, has, in 
spite of French Revolutions, remained the property of 
the royal house of France ; and in our days has given 
the title by which was known the prince who represented 
that house, and who honourably rather than prudently 
preferred the traditions of his family to the crown. At 
Chambord Saxe lived for a year or two after the peace. 
His ambitious soul was full of dreams, especially with 
dreams of a kingdom, for which he was prepared to go 
even far afield. He thought of establishing a kingdom 
in the island of Madagascar, a curious anticipation of 
later French ambition. His eyes were turned also to- 
wards Corsica, and towards the project of leading a 
French colony to America. But death came upon him 
as he dreamt these dreams, and cut them short. Over 
the facts of his death a mystery hangs, for there is a 
tradition, apparently not without some foundation, that 
Marshal Saxe received his death wound when secretly 
engaged in a duel with a prince with whom he had 
quarrelled in the Netherlands. It is interesting to add 
that a grand-daughter of Marshal Saxe was the famous 
French novelist who is generally known as George Sand. 



Wesley ajid Butler. 185 



BOOK III. 
RELIGION AND LETTERS. 



CHAPTER I. 

WESLEY AND BUTLER. 

The reign of George II. ends in a blaze of military glory, 
but peace hath her victories no less renowned than war : 
and to those who know how rightly to appraise 
events, the new reformation which took place ^^^^^ °^ 

' ^ religion. 

during the reign may seem of more import- 
ance than even the great victories of the Seven Years' 
War. Religion in England was in a very languid state 
through the reign of George I. and during the first decade 
of George II. Many clergymen, no doubt, in country 
villages were zealously and quietly doing their work, just 
as, a little earlier, there is to be noticed a religious tone 
in many papers of the widely-read 'Spectator'; but it is 
quite fair to say that religion had not a vital hold upon 
any class of the people. The force of Puritanism was 
spent, a force which had lasted long after it was con- 
quered at the Restoration. On the other hand, the 
waves of Church influence which had passed over England 
since the Restoration may be described as rather political 
than religious. Here is some evidence upon the lack of 
religion. 

The Archbishop of Canterbury would not ^be anxious 



1 86 The Early Hanoverians. 

to take a gloomy view, and in 1738, the very year in which 
Wesley's itinerant preaching began, he said, in an official 
charge : — 'An open and professed disregard to religion is 
become through a variety of unhappy causes 
on state of a distinguishing character of the present age. 
° ' This evil is grown to a great height in the 

metropolis of the nation ; is daily spread through every 
part of it ; and bad in itself as this can be, must of 
necessity bring all others after it. Indeed, it hath already 
brought in such dissoluteness and contempt of principle 
in the highest part of the world, and such profligate in- 
temperance and fearlessness of committing crimes in the 
lower, as must, if this torrent of impiety stop not, become 
absolutely fatal. And God knows, far from stopping, it 
receives from the ill design of some persons and the 
inconsiderateness of others a continual increase. Chris- 
tianity is now ridiculed and railed at with very little 
reserve, and the teachers of it without any at all.' In the 
advertisement to the 'Analogy' (published 1736) Butler 
writes : — ' It is come, I know not how, to be taken for 
granted by many persons that Christianity is not so much 
as a subject of inquiry, but that it is now at length dis- 
covered to be fictitious.' 

At the lowest ebb of true religion came the nev/ forces 
destined to turn the tide — the enthusiasm of Methodism 
in the preaching of the Wesleys and Whitefield to influ- 
ence the middle and lower orders, and the arguments of 
Butler to convince the educated. 

This new religious movement is chiefly connected with 
the name of John Wesley, the son of a Lincolnshire clergy- 
man. When Wesley was only six years old 
"Wesley. his father's parsonage was burnt, and the 

little boy was with difficulty saved. As he 
was lifted out of a window, the roof of the room in which 



Wesley and Butler. 187 

he had been fell with a crash. This wonderful preserva- 
tion impressed him even in boyhood with the belief that 
he was designed to be an instrument in some great work. 
From the age of ten to seventeen, young Wesley was 
educated at the Charterhouse in London, the school 
which Addison had left some quarter of a century earlier. 
At seventeen Wesley went up to Christ Church, Oxford, and 
on the completion of his University course he took Holy 
orders, and was elected a Fellow of Lincoln, at which 
college his place of birth gave him a preferential claim. 

When at Oxford, John Wesley and his brother Charles 
and a few other friends led very strict and religious lives. 
They rose at four o'clock every morning, and 

.\ ^ . . ^ ^ , \ Methodists. 

entirely abstammg irom amusement, planned 
out every hour of the day for some studious, pious, or 
beneficent use. From this strictness of routine they ac- 
quired the name of Methodists, a name given in mockery, 
but retained as a name of honour in widely scattered parts 
of the world. 

After working for some few years as a clergyman in 
England, John Wesley was anxious for a wider scope for 
his energies. He crossed the seas to Georgia, 
a colony that had then not very long been Georgia"^ 
founded. It was not, however, to the colo- 
nists that Wesley wished to preach ; in his missionary 
zeal he was determined to carry the gospel to the Indians. 
But only for two years did Wesley remain in Georgia. On 
his return to England the published accounts of his mission 
were attacked by two bishops, with whom Wesley entered 
into controversy, and was thought to win the victory. 

Shortly after his return to England Wesley paid a 
visit to Count Zinzendorf, the celebrated founder of 
the Moravian Brotherhood at Herrnhut, the village which 
he had recently established in Saxony. The name means 



1 88 The Early Hanoverians. 

'tiie Lord's protection.' The Moravians aimed at a 
^^^j^ simpler form of Christian doctrine as well 

and the as a purer and stricter Christian hfe. The 

Moravians. . r i • • • -.tt i 

mtiuence oi this visit upon Wesley was soon 
visible, for from this time dates the regular organisation 
of the Methodists. They, too, may be said to have 
aimed at simpler doctrine and stricter life. A life the 
practice of which is more in accordance with the tenets 
of religion is naturally liable to the same charge that is 
often brought against Puritanism, viz. hypocrisy. But 
the Puritans were for a while the dominant power, and 
under such circumstances there is more reason to be 
hypocritical. Seldom could anyone gain by becoming a 
Methodist, except the ridicule of the world ; yet under 
the preaching of the Wesleys the number of the Metho- 
dists rapidly increased. At first Wesley desired to es- 
tablish a separate society within the limits of the Church 
of England, and it is still a matter of doubt whether he 
himself ever left that church, but it was very soon found 
impossible to prevent the secession, which has created 
the separate sect of Methodists. 

Charles Wesley was the poet of the movement, a man 
of much sweeter and gentler character than his brother. 

Had John been as Charles Wesley, there 
^^'j'^^ would have been no widespread movement 

at all. Yet Charles helped with his hymns 
as the elder brother with his sermons, his writings, and 
his power of organisation. Good hymns have a power 
of piercing beyond texts, and the hymns of Charles Wes- 
ley are still used by many who would scorn in any way 
to be classed with the Methodists. If it be true that the 
making of a people's songs is more important than the 
making of their laws, the work of Charles Wesley must 
be remembered in estimating that of his brother. 



Wesley and Butler. 189 

George Whitefield was a more powerful preacher than 
either of the Wesleys, and had a great in- 
fluence in the first estabhshment of Method- Whitefield 

the preacher. 

ism. He was born at the Bell Inn in Glouces- 
ter, and was educated at the grammar school in that 
city. His mother however, was poor, and he was taken 
from school at the age of fifteen to help in the service of 
the inn. At eighteen, however, Whitefield went as a 
servitor to Pembroke College, Oxford, and whilst at Ox- 
ford fell under the influence of John Wesley, then a 
Fellow of Lincoln. Whitefield's piety and genuine re- 
ligion induced the Bishop of Gloucester to ordain him 
before the usual age, and shortly afterv/ards Whitefield 
joined the Wesleys in the missionary expedition to 
Georgia. His first stay was for a very short time. Hav- 
ing seen the needs, Whitefield returned to England to 
raise money for the mission. This was the beginning of 
his famous preaching. The clergy, being angry at the 
rise of Methodism, refused their pulpits, and Whitefield 
took to preaching in the open air. His first audience 
consisted of the colliers in the neighbourhood of Bristol, 
and it is said that as many as 20,000 soon gathered round 
him. He remarked himself that 'the first discovery of 
their being aflected was by seeing the white gutters made 
by their tears, which plentifully fell down their black 
cheeks.' Whitefield paid no less than seven visits to 
Georgia, in those days a formidable voyage, and M^as 
always indefatigable as an itinerant preacher. His la- 
bours, indeed, were incessant. It was stated by one who 
knew him well that he generally preached for forty hours 
every week, and sometimes for sixty. He would not rest 
when friends suggested, saying that he would ' rather 
wear out than rust out.' The result was that he died 
before he was fifty-six. 



IQO The Early Hanoverians. 

Differences had arisen between Wesley and White- 
field, which led to a division afterwards between their 
followers. Those who follow Whitefield are known 
properly as the Calvinistic Methodists. 

Eloquence like Whitefield's, as that of many eminent 

debaters in Parliament, cannot be preserved for posterity. 

There is nothing remarkable in his printed 

Whitefield's sermons nor in his writings. The whole 

eloquence. _ _ f 

effect must have lain in voice and manner, 
in earnestness and enthusiasm ; but the testimony to the 
influence of his sermons cannot be doubted. One Whit- 
suntide he entered into a competition with the showmen 
in Moorfields. All day, from six in the morning until 
dark, he was preaching, singing, or praying ; and after- 
wards he received no fewer than i,ooo letters from per- 
sons testifying to their conversion. But the strongest 
testimony is that of Benjamin Franklin, the well-known 
American writer and thinker — not a man likely easily to 
yield to impulse. Franklin went to hear Whitefield 
preach for an object as to which he had been consulted, 
and from which he had tried to dissuade Whitefield. 
Franklin noted that he had in his pocket copper and 
silver and gold, and continues : 'As he proceeded I 
began to soften, and concluded to give the copper ; 
another stroke of his oratory made me ashamed of that, 
and determined me to give the silver ; and he finished so 
admirably that I emptied my pocket wholly into the col- 
lector's dish, gold and all.' 

The period of history contained in this little volume 

witnessed the publication of several books, such as 

'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Gulliver's Travels,' 

which will always hold a place in literature ; 

but probably the greatest and the most useful of all books 

then published is 'Butler's Analogy,' a work of potent 



Wesley attd Butler. 191 

influence in stemming the tide of irreligion. Joseph 
Butler was born at the httle town of Wantage, on the 
Berkshire Downs. His father had been a hnen-draper, 
but had retired from busmess before the birth of this his 
youngest child. The father, being a Presbyterian, wished 
his son to be trained as a Presbyterian minister, and 
sent him to a dissenting school at Gloucester, where, 
curiously enough, he had the future Archbishop of Can- 
terbury as a schoolfellow. Even when a schoolboy young 
Butler displayed great talent as a reasoner, and at length 
he persuaded his father to permit him to enter at Oriel 
College, Oxford, and to take Holy orders in the English 
Church. He was only twenty-six when he was appointed 
preacher at the Rolls Chapel. Fifteen sermons out of 
those that he there preached have been published, and 
are still not only read, but studied as a text-book at 
universities. Butler was presented to the valuable living 
of Stanhope, in the county of Durham, and in the seclu- 
sion of this quiet country rectory he wrote the 'Analogy.' 
Queen Caroline was a great admirer of Butler's sermons. 
She is reported once to have asked whether he was dead, 
and to have received the reply, ' No, but he is buried.' 
The Queen, who delighted in theological and philosoph- 
ical controversy, and who had great influence in the be- 
stowal of church patronage, determined to unearth him. 
In the year before her death Butler was appointed clerk 
of the closet, and on her death-bed she recommended 
him to her husband's care. He was shortly afterwards 
appointed Bishop of Bristol. As this see was 
very poorly paid, he was also made Dean of ?^^if^ 
St. Paul's, and after a dozen years he was 
translated to Durham, against which the same complaint 
could not be made. The princely revenues of the see 
were, during the two years that he filled it, lavishly spent 



192 The Early Hanoverians. 

by Bishop Butler in public and in private charity, whilst 
he himself retained the utmost simplicity of life. He died 
at Bath in 1752, aged sixty, and was buried in Bristol 
Cathedral. The story runs that Butler had once declined 
the Primacy, with the reply that it was ' too late for him to 
try to support a falling church.' If true, this is a curious 
instance of the way in which despondent men will prophesy 
ill. But probably no man did so much as Bishop Butler 
to support the cause of religion and prevent it from falling. 
The full title of his great book is ' The Analogy of 
Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution and 

Course of Nature.' It marks a difference be- 
7'^^ , tween the opposition to religion in the first half 

of last century and in later times, that Butler 
is throughout not arguing against atheists, those who deny 
the existence of a God, but against deists, those who, 
holding this doctrine, yet deny the truth of Christianity. 
'My design is to apply the method of analogy to re- 
ligion in general, both natural and revealed, taking for 
proved that there is an intelligent author of nature and 
natural governor of the world.' To those who acknow- 
ledge this postulate. Bishop Butler proceeds to prove 
that there are no more and no harder difficulties in the 
Christian scheme than can be found in theism. The 
book is written in a singularly dignified style, very far 
superior to the ordinary works of controversy. 



CHAPTER II. 

BERKELEY AND OGLETHORPE. 

The reign of George II. is famous for two philanthropic 
schemes, which are connected with the names of Bishop 
Berkeley and of General Oglethorpe. This is not the place 



Berkeley and Oglethorpe. 193 

to discuss Berkeley's philosophical doctrines, but it is right 
to give some account of the man to whom 
Pope assigned 'every virtue under heaven.' 
He was of good family, born and educated in Ireland, being 
entered at Trinity College, Dublin, early in 1700, when he 
was only fifteen. He became a scholar, afterwards fellow, 
junior dean, and finally tutor. At this period he acquired 
his reputation as a philosopher. In the last year of Queen 
Anne's reign Swift took Berkeley to court. In London 
he seems to have met most of the leading people. Swift 
introduced him to Lord Peterborough, who had just been 
appointed ambassador extraordinary to the King of 
Sicily. On Swift's recommendation Berkeley went with 
Peterborough as chaplain and secretary. On the death 
of the Queen Peterborough returned. But the travelling 
fit was on Berkeley, and he continued for some years 
travelling in different parts of Europe. 

In 1723 we find Berkeley strangely mixed up with the 
history of Swift. When Swift broke Vanessa's loving 
heart by the fierce look with which he flung 
down her letter of inquiry to Stella, Vanessa, 
Miss Esther Vanhomrigh, revoked a will by which she 
had left all her property to Swift, and in a new will left 
her property to Berkeley and another. It is to the credit 
of both that no quarrel arose between Swift and Berkeley. 
Berkeley tried to suppress the publication of Swift's 
letters to Vanessa. Shortly afterwards Berkeley was 
appointed Dean of Derby. 

Vanessa's bequest and the income of the deanery, 
however, inspired Berkeley to carry out a project over 
which he ha^i for some three years been brood- 
ins^. It is said that the misery which Berkeley Berkeley's 

<=> _ _ •' ^ scheme. 

saw in England upon his return from the Con- 
tinent, the result of the failure of the South Sea scheme, 

o 



1 94 The Early Hanoverians. 

set his mind working to seek some way of benefiting and 
improving mankind. Berkeley's scheme was to found a 
Christian University in Bermuda, with the object of 
civiHsing and converting America. The project seems to 
us wild, and so it seemed to his contemporaries, but their 
coldness melted before the fascinating enthusiasm of 
Berkeley. Here is one familiar story. 'All the members 
of the Scriblerus Club (chief literary men of the day) 
being met at dinner, they agreed to rally Berkeley, who 
was a guest, on his scheme at the Bermudas. Berkeley, 
having hstened to all the lively things they had to say, 
begged to be heard in his turn ; and displayed his plan 
with such an astonishing and animating force of eloquence 
and enthusiasm, that they were struck dumb, and, after 
some pause, rose up all together with earnestness, ex- 
claiming, " Let us all set out with him immediately." ' A 
still more extraordinary result of his zeal was that he per- 
suaded Walpole to subscribe 200/. and to promise 20,000/. 
from the Exchequer if a bill passed. The bill did pass 
with only two dissentient voices. Walpole was quite 
astonished, and said that he had ' taken it for granted 
the very preamble of the Bill \vould have secured its 
rejection.' The following verses on the subject are 
the only verses preserved amongst the writings of 
Berkeley. They give us some idea of the enthusiasm 
that has been described. 

On the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning 

IN America. 

The Muse, disgusted at an age and clime 

Barren of every glorious theme. 
In distant lands now waits a better time 

Producing subjects worthy fame : 



BerJzeley and Oglethorpe. 195 

In happy climes where from the genial sun 
And virgin earth such scenes ensue, 

The force of art by nature seems outdone, 
And fancied beauties by the true : 

In happy climes the seat of innocence. 
Where nature guides and virtue rules, 

Where men shall not impose for truth and sense 
The pedantry of courts and schools : 

There shall be sung another golden age. 

The rise of empires and of arts, 
The good and great inspiring epic rage. 

The wisest heads and noblest hearts. 

Not such as Europe breeds in her decay ; 

Such as she bred when fresh and young. 
When heavenly flame did animate her clay. 

By future poets shall be sung. 

Westward the course of Ernpire takes its way : 

The first four acts already past, 
A fifth shall close the drama with the day : 

Time's noblest offspring is its last. 

It is sad to add that all this enthusiasm was in vain. 
Berkeley never went to the romantic Bermudas, though 
he went as far as America and sojourned at 
Newport, in Rhode Island. Whilst there, scheme." 
some five years after the parliamentary vote, 
this answer was given by Sir Robert Walpole, to one who 
on Berkeley's behalf asked for the money : ' If you put 
this question to me as a minister, I must and can assure 
you that the money shall most undoubtedly be paid, as 
soon as suits with pubhc convenience ; but if you ask me 
as a friend whether Dean Berkeley should continue in 
America, expecting the payment of 20,000/., I advise him 



196 The Eaidy Hanove?'ians. 

by all means to return home to Europe, and to give up 
his present expectations. 

Shortly after Berkeley's return he was made Bishop of 
Cloyne. Though he had been an absentee as a dean, he 

was a model bishop, even according to our 
Berkefey. modcm vicws of bishops' dutics, for when once 

appointed bishop, he did not visit England 
again for about eighteen years, and seldom was present even 
in the Irish House of Lords. In the last year of his life, 
being in infirm health, he wished to live quietly at Oxford, 
and with that object he proposed to resign his bishopric. 
This proposal almost seems to have amused George II., 
who declared that ' Berkeley should die a bishop in spite 
of himself, but that he might live where he pleased.' At 
Oxford after a few months Berkeley died. The story of 
his life gives the best idea of the sweetness of his charac- 
ter, and the earnestness of his benevolence. 

Sufficient honour is not paid in history to the name of 
James Oglethorpe, who in the former half of the century 

anticipated the work which in the later half 

made Howard famous, and who, from phil- 
anthropic motives, founded the colony of Georgia. Ogle- 
thorpe is perhaps best remembered by the couplet of 
Pope: — 

One, driven by strong benevolence of soul, 
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole. 

The family of Oglethorpe was of good social position ; 

his father was a baronet. James Oglethorpe was born in 

the middle of 1689 ; and in the times of Jacob- 

His history. . . . \ . . 

ite excitement m the eighteenth century, when 
the ridiculous warming-pan story was believed, one ver- 
sion of it ran that a brother of Oglethorpe, born in the 
previous year, was, by the connivance of Lady Oglethorpe 



Berkeley and Oglethorpe. 197 

with the Queen, the child passed off to a credulous world 
as the Prince of Wales. During the great war that ended 
with the treaty of Utrecht, Oglethorpe held a commission 
in the English army, though he was only an ensign when 
peace was proclaimed. Shortly afterwards, indeed in the 
month previous to the death of Queen Anne, he matricu- 
lated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford ; but he could not 
have regularly continued his course, for in another two 
years he was acting as aide-de-camp to Prince Eugene in 
the war against the Turks, being present in that capacity 
at Peterwaradin and at the capture of Belgrade. We 
next find him occupying a family seat in Parliament, and 
making his maiden speech on Atterbury's behalf, against 
the Bill of pains and penalties. Oglethorpe had, through 
family connections, strong Jacobite sympathies, which 
were sometimes cast in his teeth, but he does not seem to 
have ever been actively disloyal. 

Early in the reign of George II. Oglethorpe came 
prominently before the House, demanding inquiry into 
the condition of the prisons. He was ap- 
pointed Chairman of a Committee of Inquiry. 
Many horrible revelations were made as to the state of 
the prisons, and especially of the Fleet. Bribery was 
found to be common, and the prisoners who could not 
bribe were shamefully maltreated. As the result of the 
inquiry, prison officials were brought to trial for the mur- 
der of prisoners entrusted to their charge ; but they man- 
aged to escape. New regulations for a while improved 
the condition of the prisons, but before many years they 
became again a disgrace to English civilisation, and 
plenty of work was left for Howard. As another result 
of Oglethorpe's inquiry, many unfortunate prisoners for 
debt were released, but Oglethorpe's mind was much 
occupied with the consideration how the circumstances of 



198 The Early Hanoverians. 

these poverty-stricken debtors and others hke them could 
be improved. 

The remedy that came was emigration to a new colony 

with special, philantliropic laws ; and the colony of Georgia 

was founded, a charter being obtained from 

Colony of George II., whose name was given to the 

Georgia. ^ ° 

colony. The colony was in the first place to 
be a refuge for the needy ; in the second it was to be a 
centre of missionary influence upon the Indians ; and it 
soon became the scene of the early missionary labours of 
the Wesleys and of Whitefield. The natives long re- 
mained upon very friendly terms with this settlement. A 
party of German Protestants, also, persecuted on account 
of their religion by the Emperor, and driven from their 
home at Salzburg, took refuge in Georgia. The intro- 
duction of spirits was forbidden ; and Oglethorpe caused 
a clause to be inserted in the charter, absolutely prohib- 
iting slavery. Oglethorpe himself, though holding a 
good position in England, being wealthy, sitting in Par- 
liament, and on very friendly terms with the chief literary 
men, was appointed governor without salary. He went 
out with the first party of emigrants, and chose Savannah 
as the capital of the colony. For twenty years Ogle- 
thorpe continued to hold the office of governor, though 
he retained his seat in Parliament, made two interme- 
diate voyages to England, and, for the last ten years of 
his nominal governorship, never went back to Georgia at 
all. It must be to the three double voyages that Pope, 
with some exaggeration, alludes in the words ' from pole 
to pole.' During the later part of Oglethorpe's stay in 
Georgia there was war with Spain, and at that time Flor- 
ida, the neighbouring province to Georgia, belonged to 
Spain. Oglethorpe conducted the local part of the war 
with skill, success and moderation, the latter being 



Berkeley and Oglethorpe. 199 

specially displayed in diminishing the horrors connected 
with the employment of Indians as combatants. 

At the time of ' the Forty-five ' Oglethorpe, who in the 
early part of that year was made a general, had a body 
of recruits ' for a colonial regiment, the 
'Georgia Rangers,' ready for departure to in^heForty- 
the colony. The Government gave orders ^^'^• 
that the ship on board of which they were should pro- 
ceed to Hull, and that Oglethorpe and his men should 
march against Prince Charles Edward. This corps 
formed part of the force that marched to cut off the 
retreat of the Pretender, and failing that, followed him 
northwards. Oglethorpe was in command at the skir- 
mish at Clifton (p. 161), and was afterwards tried by 
court-martial for the offence of ' lingering on the road.' 
If it had not been for the general's known Jacobite sym- 
pathy, probably this insult would not have been put 
upon him. He was honourably acquitted, though, strong 
anti-Jacobites maintained, that he was not cleared from 
the charge. 

General Oglethorpe lived forty years longer to an 
honoured old age. Dr. Johnson and Goldsmith were 
amongst his friends and admirers. Edmund 
Burke paid him the remarkable compliment J^'^ ^^^^'^ 
of calling him ' a more extraordinary person 
than any he had ever read of; for he had called a pro- 
vince into existence, and lived to see it become an inde- 
pendent state.' Oglethorpe lived to see American inde- 
pendence established, and his own Georgia one of the 
triumphant thirteen ; but alas ! Georgia, after his rule, 
rapidly backsliding from its virtues, allowed the impor- 
tation of spirits, and, with the acquiescence of Whitefield, 
the introduction of slavery. Oglethorpe also lived to see 
the prison reforms of John Howard. It is exactly a 



200 The Early Hanoverians. 

century this year (1885) since the old general died. He 
is reported by Macaulay to have said that when he was a 
boy he had shot birds where Regent Street now stands. 



CHAPTER III. 

ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

Section I. — The Poets. 

In describing any short period of history, we are always 

met with the difficulty that no period stands alone. It 

has had its roots in the past ; it leaves influ- 

State of ences that will work upon the future. Like the 

letters. *■ 

second volume of a three-volume novel, it is 
unintelligible without the other volumes. The age that 
preceded the accession of George I. is famous in litera- 
ture and has the special name of the Augustan Age. We 
are sometimes, however, apt to forget that not only did 
not all the poets and writers who flourished in the reign 
of Queen Anne die with the Queen, but that some of 
their most famous works were written after her death. 
Pope was at work on the 'Translation of Homer,' and 
had not yet written the ' Dunciad' or the ' Essay on Man.' 
Swift had not written ' Drapier's Letters ' nor ' Gulliver's 
Travels.' Defoe had not published ' Robinson Crusoe.' 
Addison's official career had begun and the ' Spectator ' 
was at an end. Addison was already giving up to office 
what was meant for mankind, and instead of writing 
more papers like those in the ' Spectator,' was secretary 
to the Lords Justices who ruled England until King 
George arrived, and three years afterwards was for a 
short time Secretary of State. 

The power and influence of literary men during the 



English Literature. 201 

first half of the eighteenth century were very remarkable. 
Perhaps never at any other time was patron- 
age so discriminating or so liberal. Not only Rewards of 
did literary men live on terms of intimacy 
with politicians, who liked playing the part of Maecenas, 
but as writings, and especially political pamphlets, or allu- 
sive prologues to plays, were having great weight with the 
people, the politicians who were helped paid for the help 
with appointments. In modern days patronage is dead, 
except that of the general public, and literary men do 
not look to places in the public service as a wage for their 
writings. The sale of their books is the legitimate reward 
of their influence. The reign of George II. may be de- 
scribed as lying between the days of patronage by the 
great, and the creation of a genuine interest in literature 
on the part of the public. 

The poetical career of James Thomson falls wholly 
within the reigns of the first two Georges. This ' sweet 
poet of the year,' as Burns describes him, 
was born in 1700, the year that Dry den died. J^™^^ 
It may be mentioned that his birthplace was 
near the source of the Tweed, so that he was a native of 
the charmed border country which a century later pro- 
duced the poetry of Sir Walter Scott. Thomson's father 
was a minister, and it was intended that the boy should 
follow in his father's footsteps ; but whilst he was attend- 
ing divinity lectures at Edinburgh University, the Pro- 
fessor set his class a paraphrase of a psalm. Thomson's 
exercise was so poetical that the Professor, after com- 
plimenting him on it, told him that if he wished to be of 
use in the ministry he must keep a tight rein on his 
imagination. This remark seems to have turned the 
young poet against a profession in which his favourite 
occupation would only do him harm. He made up his 



202 The Eaidy Hanoverians. 

mind to follow the vocation of a poet, and in order that 
he might have a wider field, he determined to leave 
Edinburgh for London. 

The poem on which Thomson's fame as a poet de- 
pends is the ' Seasons.' The different parts of this poem 
were written and published separately in the 
J^^ , following order — Winter, Sum.mer, Spring, 

'seasons. ° ' r- o 

Autumn. The metre is blank verse. Both 
in the metre and in the character of the poetry Thomson 
was original enough not to follow the poetry then in vogue, 
not to be of the school of Pope. As the poet of rural 
nature, he is the predecessor of Cowper. His verse has 
faults that are easily apparent, an exuberant and some- 
times inharmonious diction, prosaic commonplaces in 
bombastic language ; but we may agree with Words- 
worth that Thomson was a true poet, for he had an insight 
into nature and a power of so painting it as to make his 
readers marvel when he shows them its wonders that 
they had never seen them for themselves before. 

Besides the 'Seasons ' Thomson wrote several plays 
which cannot be described as successful or as deserving 

of success. A masque called ' Alfred,' in the 
^^^^^ writing of which he was joined with a friend, 

poems. ° -' 

a minor poet named Mallet, has the advan- 
tage of containing the well-known song 'Rule Britannia,' 
but it is not quite certain to which of the two friends the 
credit of it belongs. Perhaps the only other poem of 
Thomson's worth remembering is the 'Castle of Indolence,' 
written in the Spenserian stanza, and a very good imita- 
tion of the manner of Spenser. 

The good things that were then so liberally bestowed on 
men of letters were not lacking to Thomson, who obtained 
a sinecure office in the Court of Chancery as well as a 
pension from Frederick, Prince of Wales. When his 



English Literature. 203 

first appointment lapsed on the death of a friendly lord 

chancellor, Thomson was made surveyor- 

g^eneral of the Leeward Islands, but he never Thomson's 

° rewards. 

went near them. 

Thomson died in 1748, the year of the peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle. In the later years of his life he had lived chiefly 
at Richmond, in Surrey, where he is buried. 
After his death Lord Lyttelton, a friend, ,?^^^^°^ 

■' Ihomson. 

brought out one of Thomson's plays with a 

prologue that contained the following warm eulogy on his 

character and writings : — 

Oft in this crowded house, with just applause, 

You heard him teach fair virtue's purest laws; 

For his chaste muse employed her heaven-taught lyre 

None but the noblest passions to inspire : 

Not one immoral, one coiTupted thought, 

One line which, dying, he could wish to blot. 

Young's 'Night Thoughts,' or, according to its full 
title, 'The Complaint; or. Night Thoughts on Life, 
Death, and Immortality,' published near the ^ 
middle of the century, for a long time held a ' Night 
very high place amongst English poems. 
During this century its reputation has dwindled. The 
poem is written in blank verse, in imitation of Milton, 
and is said to have been inspired by the melancholy 
caused by the deaths of Young's wife and two children 
following each other within a very short period. It 
consists of reflections on the serious subjects named in 
the title, interspersed with short tales by way of episodes. 
A reader feels that throughout the poem there is a con- 
stant straining after effect. Antithesis is too frequently 
employed. Now and then the poem seems to creep 
along the ground of prose. But noble thoughts and 



204 The Early Hanoverians. 

beautiful passages occur, and some lines have become 
the constant quotation of common speech : 

Procrastination is the thief of time. 

All men think all men mortal but themselves. 

The greatest poet living at the middle of the century 
was Thomas Gray. The only reason why the epithet 
' great ' seems incongruous as applied to Gray, 
is the very small bulk which his poems 
occupy. Less than forty-five small pages contain the 
whole of them. He was a most fastidious writer. It 
was said of Virgil that he wrote many verses in the 
morning, but reduced them to a few before night. Most 
assuredly quality is of the first importance in poetry, and 
Gray's few pages bear marks of polish in every line. 
Perhaps it is true that Gray thought too much of the 
form and not enough of the matter. The ' Elegy written 
in a Country Churchyard ' is probably the best known. 
What pains the poet has manifestly taken ! It may be 
true that the thoughts are obvious; but on account of 
the grace of its language the poem will be read, remem- 
bered, and loved when longer poems with more original 
thoughts are forgotten. Gray's Odes, such as * The Bard' 
and 'The Progress of Poesy,' well deserve the admiration 
which they have received from every critic except Dr. 
Johnson. One charm of the poetry of Gray is that 
almost every line reminds us of something either in an 
ancient or in a modern poet. It is not a plagiarism, but a 
suggestion. Want of originality, however, keeps Gray 
out of the first rank of poets. 

Section II. — The Novelists. 

The middle of the eighteenth century was not a great 
time for poets, but it has hardly ever been surpassed as 



English Literature. 205 

a creative period of English prose. There is a cluster of 
great novelists, followed later by a cluster of 
great historians, besides the unique figure "^'"^^ °^ 
of Dr. Johnson and, a little later, the equally- 
remarkable Edmund Burke. 

The reign of George II. is the time when the modern 
novel may be said to have been born ; and in our days 
novels are numerous enough and influential 
enough to make us interested in their first Beginning 

_ _ oi novels. 

beginnings. Perhaps ' Robinson Crusoe ' 
and the numerous shorter tales which Defoe gave some- 
what earlier to the world may from one side dispute 
the claim ; but these are too deficient in sentiment and 
in variety of human interests to be rightly classed as 
novels. 

Samuel Richardson was the first novelist. His three 
novels, ' Pamela,' ' Clarissa Harlowe,' and ' Sir Charles 
Grandison ' differ from novels of our day 

, . ^ . , . , , II' • • Richardson. 

chiefly m their length and m bemg written in 
a series of letters. Richardson was not the man who 
wo aid have been expected beforehand to turn novelist. 
He was a London printer's apprentice, whose diligence 
was rewarded by a partnership and later by a fortune. 
He was the first printer of the journals of the House of 
Commons. In character he was kind and benevolent, 
but very vain ; fonder of the society of ladies than of 
men, and especially greedy of the flattery of women. 

Accident, it is said, first made Richardson a novelist. 
He had been engaged to write a series of letters as 
models of epistolary style and at the same 
time to serve as a sort of manual of morality, ^^^ ^}^^^^ 

■' novels. 

and the thought occurred to him that more 
interest would attach to the letters if they were made con- 
tinuous. Hence came 'Pamela; or, Virtue Rewarded,' 



2o6 The Early Hanoverians. 

which at once acquired an extraordinary popularity. It 
is a story of a young country girl of the humbler class 
resisting manifold temptations and ultimately triumphing. 
The success of this led him to write ' Clarissa Harlowe,' 
the best of his books. There is plenty of pathos in 
' Pamela,' but much more in * Clarissa Harlowe,' which 
has been described as a novel ' not of action and enter- 
prise, but of character and sentiment.' ' Sir Charles 
Grandison ' is intended to portray the perfect gen- 
tleman,' but with his eternal bows and constant for- 
malities he is a very wearisome personage. The three 
novels represent three classes of society — 'Pamela' the 
lower, 'Clarissa Harlowe' the middle, and 'Sir Charles 
Grandison ' the upper ranks. Now, of the third Richard- 
son knew nothing, so that he had to evolve his notion of 
It out of his inner consciousness. Sir Charles is the sort 
of aristocrat that Richardson himself, the retired trades- 
man, would have been. 

A greater novelist than Richardson was created by a 

spirit of opposition to the preaching, namby-pamby tone of 

'Pamela.' Henry Fielding was as different as 

possible from Richardson both in character 

and circumstances. Fielding was of good family, educated 

at Eton, and trained for the law ; but his father being of 

extravagant habits, and dying before Fielding came of 

age, the young man was forced to live by his wits. To 

make a living he wrote for the stage, but his plays did 

not live. Fielding was a thorough man of the world, 

lived a fast life, and spent money as readily as his father 

had. A not unnatural inclination to ridicule 'Pamela' 

suggested that he should write a parody. To this he 

gave the name of ' Joseph Andrews.' The 

His novels. ~ , , . 

book was published the year after ' Pamela.' 
Joseph Andrews is a young footman, Pamela's brother, 



English Litej^atm'e. 207 

to whom his mistress makes love, and who is turned out 
of his master's house, and then wanders about England 
together with a friend named Parson Adams, one of the 
best remembered of Fielding's characters, a strange com- 
pound of learning and simplicity. This book seemed to 
reveal to Fielding his true vocation in literature, and was 
followed by other novels, of which ' Tom Jones ' is the 
most famous. Fielding's novels may be said to 'hold the 
mirror up to nature.' Of poor human nature, indeed, he 
does not take an exalted view, but he paints the world as 
he found it Complaint is commonly made of Fielding's 
coarseness. The truth is, that he found coarseness in 
society around him. Of this he tones down nought, 
neither will he put a veil over it as Richardson did. In 
humour it may be questioned whether Fielding has ever 
been surpassed, but his chief merit lies in the lifelike 
fidelity with which in endless variety he photographed 
what he saw. 

Circumstances placed in Fielding's way the oppor- 
tunity to become well acquainted with a baser side of 
human nature, for he was appointed a stipen- 

,. . .-, ,^^^ -^ Later life. 

diary magistrate m London. Very honour- 
ably and thoroughly he is said to have done this work ; 
and his position gave him an insight into the life and 
temptations of the poof, as well as of the criminal classes, 
of which he certainly made use in his writings. But the 
double labour of judicial and literary work proved too 
much for a constitution which his earlier fast life had 
undermined. Doctors ordered a warmer climate, and 
he went to Lisbon, where he died at the early age of 
forty-seven, about a year before the famous earthquake 
in that city.^ 

The third of the great novelists is Tobias Smollett, 
^ November i, 1755. 



2o8 The Early Haiioverimis. 

who was surgeon's mate on board a man-of-war engaged 
in the expedition to Cartagena (see p. 104). 

Smollett. TT 1 J J- J r^^ TT • • J 

He had studied at Glasgow University, and 
was apprenticed to a medical man in that town, but his 
medical training must have been over at an early age, for 
before he was nineteen he travelled up to London with the 
manuscript of a tragedy in his pocket, more ambitious of 
fame in literature than anxious for work as a doctor. He 
had, however, to take the position in the navy, which he 
held for only a few years, disliking it all the while. No 
one can think such dislike unnatural who reads of the 
horrible condition of the men-of-war. On leaving the 
service Smollett settled for a short time in the West Indies, 
but the old literary ambition brought him back to London. 
All forms of literature seem to have occupied him, politi- 
cal pamphlets, in poetry a few occasional pieces with 
both pathos and power, in history a continuation of 
Hume's History of England. He translated 'Don 
Quixote,' edited a magazine, wrote plays, medical works, 
and a book of travels that shows a curious want of appre- 
ciation. But his chief books are his novels, ' Roderick 
Random,' 'Peregrine Pickle,' 'Humphrey Clinker.' 

Smollett was not one of the men who take life easily. 
At the best he had a testy temper ; his circumstances 
were never good, and worry made his temper worse. 
The violence of his attack upon the Admiral who did 

not take Cartagena procured him imprison- 

Character. & j- r 

ment for three months. He was always at 
war with brother doctors or with other literary men. 
Nothing appeared to him good in the countries through 
which he travelled. At the same time it must be remem- 
bered that Smollett was to a rare degree patriotic and 
high-minded. After Culloden, when the country was 
full of the stories of the ferocity with which the Rebellion 



English Literature. 209 

was being suppressed, Smollett wrote a short poem called 
' Scotland's Tears.' He was advised to suppress the 
poem, as noxious to the Government. His only answer 
was to add another and more indignant verse. There 
is a pretty story about Smollett's return to his home. 
Having been long absent, he introduced himself to his 
mother as a stranger. Though he tried to frown, his 
mother's steady gaze at length made him smile, and she 
put her arms round his neck, saying, ' Ah, my son, I 
have found you at last. Your old roguish smile has 
betrayed you.' There is no doubt about Smollett's hu- 
mour, typified in this roguish smile, but he took the 
world hardly, and was generally in conflict. He suffered 
from bad health, and latterly was obliged to live in Italy. 
He died at Leghorn, when only a little over fifty. 

Smollett's novels depend for success not on skilful 
arrangement of plot, but on amusing characters. His 
books are like a picture in which there are 
admirable likenesses and striking figures, but Sea-char- 

^ ° ' acters. 

in which the different elements are not well 
blended. Of his characters, as might be expected from 
his history, the most successful are his sailors. Smollett 
may be regarded as the ancestor of all the sea novels in 
which English literature is rich. 

One other novel, rather than novelist, must be added 
to those already mentioned, ' Tristram Shandy,' by the 
Rev. Laurence Sterne, a clergyman as little fitted for his 
profession as Dean Swift. Sterne was not a 
good clergyman, nor a good man. He has sh'^'^d'^^^ 
been convicted of using other people's learn- 
ing and of making love to other people's wives. But 
he has written a book of admirable humour and pathos, 
a strangely compounded romance, with characters in it 
worthy of Shakspeare. 

P 



3IO The Early Ha7ioverians. 

Sterne is also the author of the ' Sentimental Journey/ 
a book which presents a remarkable contrast to Smol- 
lett's book of travels, for the author betrays no feeling 
of hatred to all that is not English, but is generous 
towards foreigners and appreciative of all the good that 
he sees. 

It may be added that poor Sterne died friendless and 
alone in London lodgings. 

Section III. — Dr. Johjison and his Circle. 

In 1760 when George III. succeeded his grandfather 

the leading figure amongst the literary men was Dr. 

Johnson. That date may be taken for a 

Dr. Johnson. . ,- 

break m Dr. Johnson s life, the early part 
of which was one long struggle against want. During 
the latter part Dr. Johnson reigned acknowledged king 
in the English world of letters. It has been remarked 
that Johnson's age lay intermediate between the days of 
patronage by the great and the days of appreciation by 
the public. Like all intermediate things, it had not the 
full advantages of either extreme ; yet Dr. Johnson's 
comfort in the later portion of his life was partly due to 
a pension given to him early in the reign of George III. ; 
and though the purchasers of his books were not in 
number like the clients of a modern popular author, yet 
Dr. Johnson had an outside public for audience as well 
as an inner circle of admirers. 

Samuel Johnson was the son of a poor bookseller at 
Lichfield. His personal appearance was most ungainly. 

He was of great size, and scrofulous. One of 
life! ^" ^ his earliest recollections was being taken to 

London to be touched by Queen Anne for 
the 'king's evil,' as scrofula was then called. His man- 
ners were strans'e and excited amusement. But there 



Rnglish Literature. 21 1 

was in Johnson a native worth, a noble independence of 
thought and speech, maintained often in the extremity of 
distress, which made and still make him honoured in 
spite of his 'peculiarities. Educated first in his native 
town, Johnson was, through the kindness of a patron, 
able to enter upon a student's career at Pembroke Col- 
lege, Oxford ; but his life at the University was a long 
struggle against poverty. He was too proud to accept the 
new pair of shoes which some one in pity had placed at 
his door. Unable to take a degree — for the title of Doctor, 
by which he is always called, was an honorary degree 
conferred later in life — Samuel Johnson became an usher 
at various provincial schools. Afterwards he tried a 
school of his own and was unsuccessful. Johnson had not 
the patience that is required for a teacher, and at length 
found the servitude of school work so intolerable to his 
proud spirit that he exchanged one set of chains for an- 
other, and, going to London, became a booksellers' hack. 
A 'hack' earns a scanty living by doing various jobs for 
booksellers, writes a preface, makes an index, edits some 
republication of an old book. During this time Johnson 
was often miserably poor. In his own dignified and 
sonorous verse Johnson has told us, 

Slow rises worth by poverty depressed. 

Painful experience had taught him this truth, which in- 
deed is not difficult to apprehend, but through all the 
pain of his experience no want and no dis- 

C h3.r3.ctGr 

tress ever touched the honesty of his purpose 
or the inherent dignity of his mind. From adversity 
Johnson learned self-control, while it strengthened his 
tender feeling for the suffering of others. When happier 
days arrived and Johnson was in comparative prosperity, 
was recognised and honoured, he always exhibited a 
gentle and true charity to all who needed it. His dwell- 



212 The Early Hanoverians. 

ing was even described as ' a sort of asylum for helpless 
indigence.' 

Johnson was engaged on the early numbers of the 
'Gentleman's Magazine,' contributing to it accounts of 
,, . debates in Parliament. It was not then leeal 

Various ^ \ ^• \ r ■, 

works. to pubhsh reports of the proceedings of Parlia- 

ment, and Johnson used to veil the identity 
of the speakers under false names. Being a man of strong 
political prejudices, he afterwards allowed that he always 
took care that 'the Whig dogs should always get the worst 
of it.' A still more important contribution to periodical 
literature were two journals that he pubhshed, somewhat 
in the style of Addison's 'Spectator,'— the 'Idler,' and the 
' Rambler.' The great work, however, of Johnson's life 
was the 'Dictionary of the English Language,' which has 
served as the basis of all English dictionaries since pub- 
lished, until the last year or two. Its chief value consists 
not in the definitions, which are sometimes ludicrously 
prejudiced, nor in the etymology, which often reads like 
guesswork, but in its quotations from standard English 
authors. Herein Dr. Johnson's wide knowledge of our 
literature was of great service. By resolute and unflinch- 
ing industry he accomplished in seven years a work 
which in other countries has occupied learned societies a 
much longer time. ' Rasselas, Prince of Abyssinia ' is a 
tale that illustrates Johnson's views of human life. It 
was written by Johnson in a very short space of time in 
order to defray the expenses of his mother's funeral. 
Though chiefly a writer of prose, Johnson is the author 
of two poems, imitations of the satires of Juvenal, 
' London' and 'The Vanity of Human Wishes.' No one 
can call him a poet, yet each of these satires contains 
dignified and sonorous lines of remarkable power. Dr. 
Johnson's last work was the ' Lives of the Poets,' in which 



English Literature. 213 

he is often unfair, or at least unappreciative, but always 
suggestive. 

Dr. Johnson's style is one by no means to be imitated. 
There is a frequent employment of antithesis and balance. 
The sentences are heavy and laboured, and 
very full of words derived from the Latin. Johnson's 
The style may be compared to Ulysses' bow, 
which none but he could bend. Johnson used the style 
with effect ; but his imitators are v/ell-nigh unreadable. 
Nay more : one can almost say that the reason why the 
sterling worth of many of Johnson's writings is now so 
little appreciated is that, scorning the English elements in 
our language, he made almost exclusive use of the 
learned and really foreign vocabulary. The style has 
already done damage to his fame. Yet if Johnson's own 
works are not studied as they should be, the character and 
personality of Johnson is well known. Hardly anyone in 
our literary history is so familiar. This curious fact is 
due to the fulness and excellence of the biog- 
raphy by his faithful friend, James Boswell. Li'fe^^^^'^ 
Boswell was what is now termed a 'hero- 
worshipper.' So profound was the reverence that he enter- 
tained for Dr. Johnson, that he chronicled the smallest de- 
tails of his life and the fragments of his conversation, so that 
readers seem to know Johnson and the society in which he 
lived as well as they know the circle of their own friends. 

Round about Dr. Johnson in the later part of his life 
all the great men in literature and in art seem to cluster. 
Not on one evening only, but on many, a vis- ^, ^, , 

^ -I ■> Ihe Club. 

itor might have found, grouped round Dr. 
Johnson at meetings of the Literary Club, besides other men 
whose names, though known to fame, are, perhaps, less 
worth remembering, Oliver Goldsmith, Edmund Burke, 
Garrick, Gibbon, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. All of these 



214 -^^^^ Early IIanove?'ians. 

were younger than Johnson, and belong to the coming time 
rather than to the reigns of the first two Georges, with 
which this httle volume is concerned. Of the five the 
oldest was David Garrick, the greatest of English actors. 
He was a fellow-townsman, and had been a pupil of 
Johnson's. The next was Sir Joshua Reynolds, greatest of 
English portrait painters, first President of the Royal 
Academy. Goldsmith and Burke were about the same 
age, a little over thirty on the accession of George III. 
At that date Goldsmith was in the middle of that period 
of his life when he was working for the booksellers, writ- 
ing the most beautiful English about subjects as to which 
he knew either nothing or very little. The eloquent voice 
of Edmund Burke had not yet been heard in Parliament: 
his writings, too, belong to the future. 

At the accession of George III. Edward Gibbon was 
serving his country as a captain in the Hampshire militia. 
He had found Oxford barren of intellectual 
life and the future sceptic had there only 
been converted to Roman Catholicism. To be reclaimed 
to Protestantism he had been sent abroad to Lausanne, 
where he had learnt French so perfectly that his first 
essay already written, 'On the Study of Literature,' was 
written in French. At Lausanne he had fallen in love 
with the beautiful and virtuous lady, afterwards the wife 
of the French minister, Necker. 'After a painful struggle ' 
Gibbon had 'yielded to fate,' his father's opposition, had 
' sighed- as a lover,' ' obeyed as a son.' Already the young 
officer had made up his mind to be a historian, but four 
years were yet to elapse before he ' sat musing amidst 
the ruins of the Capitol, while the bare-footed friars were 
singing vespers in the temple of Jupiter,' and the idea of 
writing ' The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' 
started to his mind. 



French Literature. ii^ 



CHAPTER IV. 

. FRENCH LITERATURE. VOLTAIRE AND 
ROUSSEAU. 

The last years of the reign of Lewis XIV. were simply a 
period of repression. The glory of the reign was over ; 
a great dulness held the court, and its influence was 
widely felt. It was not unnatural, therefore, that the 
news of the old King's death should have been received 
everywhere with joy, though the exuberance and open- 
ness with which this joy was displayed are somewhat 
surprising. 

At the death of the King Voltaire was just of age, 
and perhaps in no one was the spirit of revolt more 
strong. The real name of this remarkable 
man was Francois Marie Arouet. The name ^o^*^^^,^?'^ 

early lue. 

Voltaire is now believed to be an anagram of 
Arouet 1. j. (le jeune), j being regarded as identical with i, 
and u with v. His father was a prosperous notary in 
Paris, who had two sons. The younger Arouet, after- 
wards Voltaire, was educated in Paris at the famous 
college Louis le Grand, then under the Jesuits. In after 
life he railed at the education that he received there. 
Naturally the notary wished his clever son to succeed him, 
and destined him for the law. But Voltaire had no taste 
for the law or advocacy, and like so many other men of 
letters, in spite of his father's strong disapproval, he 
deserted the legal profession for the freedom of a literary 
life. 



2i6 The Early Hannveidans. 

That which distinguished Voltaire was a spirit of 
lively yet bitter mockery. At a very early age it brought 
him to the Bastille. It is characteristic of the injustice 
of the day that the particular satire for which he was first 
lodged there did not proceed from his pen. Release 
came after a year's imprisonment, which Voltaire bore 
with light-hearted philosophy, composing poetry, making 
a commencement of the poem which afterwards took 
shape as the 'Henriade.' The first was not, however, 
Voltaire's only experience of the Bastille. A nobleman 
said of him insultingly, 'Who is this young man that 
talks so loud?' 'He is one,' replied Voltaire promptly, 
' who does not drag a big name about with him, but who 
secures respect for the name that he has.' For this biting 
speech a brutal revenge was prepared. A week later 
Voltaire was summoned to leave the table on the plea 
that he was wanted for an act of kindness, was seized 
and beaten by bullies. Voltaire practised sword exer- 
cise, and challenged his noble adversary to a duel. The 
latter accepted, but let the secret be known, and Voltaire 
was again imprisoned in the Bastille. 

Released after six months on condition that he would 

go into exile, he chose England, where he lived some two 

years — the last year of George I. and first of 

Voltaire in George II. It happened that Voltaire had in 

England. *=" ^^ 

France made the acquaintance of Boling- 
broke, and through him he was now introduced to the 
people best worth knowing — to Pope, for instance. New- 
ton, whom he regarded as 'the greatest genius that ever 
existed,' he saw once shortly before Newton died. 

Voltaire's opinion of England and the English was 
afterwards conveyed to the world. His feeling is by no 
means one of unmixed admiration, but may perhaps be 
best described as admiration tempered with mockery. It 



Voltaire and Rottsseau. Fretich Lite7'-ature . 217 

would have been impossible for a Frenchman who had 
recently suffered as Voltaire had not to have admired 
the freedom that he found in England^^freedom of speech 
and freedom before the law — equally impossible for him 
not to have scoffed at the many anomalies which accom- 
panied freedom in our country. He seems to have had 
-no faith in parliamentary government. In the raillery 
about the different religious sects in England there is an 
evident mixture of admiration for the toleration that pro- 
duced the variety. 

Imprisonment in the Bastille made Voltaire very care- 
ful in his criticisms of political affairs, rendered him 
cautious in publication, and anxious to live 
elsewhere than in France. During his so- Voltaire's 

° caution. 

journ in England Voltaire studied the great 
English writers, and their influence upon his writings and 
his thought is very marked ; this is seen even in his relig- 
ious views, Voltaire is often described as an atheist, but 
no description could be more false. In the days of the 
excesses of the French Revolution, when men had passed 
far beyond the teaching of Voltaire, the saying ran, ' Vol- 
taire is a bigot; he believes in a God.' In later days, at 
his Genevan retreat, he built a church with the inscription, 
'Deo erexit Voltaire,' 

It was during his sojourn in England that Voltaire 
published his great epic, the 'Henriade,' which he had 
begun during his first imprisonment in the 
Bastille. The publication was by subscrip- 
tion — Queen Caroline's name being first in the list — and 
no less than 2,000/. was collected, which is said to have 
formed the nucleus of the large fortune that he afterwards 
amassed. The ' Henriade ' became at once popular, and 
in spite of changes of taste is still regarded as a great 
French classic. The poem is written in praise of Henry 



2i8 The Early Hanoverians: 

of Navarre, of all French kings the best adapted for a 
national hero. The author thought that he would achieve 
greatness for his poem by avoiding what he thought the 
mistakes of his predecessors in epic poetry, yet he bor- 
rowed largely from Virgil. Voltaire certainly lacked the 
first requisite for success — viz. the poetical spirit. His 
poem stands as an instance of the degree of success that 
can be attained by a very acute mind exercised in the 
criticism of poetry, and possessing great powers of versifi- 
cation, but without real poetical gifts. In shorter poems, 
what are known as occasional verses, Voltaire is far more 
successful. Epigram is his forte. Many of these lighter 
poems are written with remarkable grace as well as epi- 
grammatic force. 

As a dramatist, again, Voltaire is more successful than 
as a poet. It is natural that his first attempts should be- 
long to the reigning school of taste. His first 
Voltaire's play, ' OEdipe,' is in the style of Racine, a good 

imitation. It is classical in subject, and strictly 
. obeys the laws of the unities. But a change came over 
his dramas after his visit to England, where Voltaire 
read Shakspeare and became acquainted with the Eng- 
lish drama and its freedom. Though he described 
Shakspeare as an inspired barbarian, and objected to 
many things in his plays as in bad taste, yet it is very 
evident that he had learnt much from him. The very 
name of one of the best of his plays, the ' Death of C^sar,' 
and still more its plot, shows how deeply he was indebted 
to the study of Shakspeare. Another of his dramas has 
a Roman subject — the story of the consul Brutus, whom 
a sense of duty compelled to put his traitor sons to 
death. Probably the best of all his plays is ' Zaire.' 
The scene of this tender tragedy is laid in Palestine. A 
young Christian girl loves and is loved by the sultan. 



Voltaire a7id Rousseau. French Liferahire. 219 

Turning Mohammedan she is about to marry him, when 
her father, many years a captive, is suddenly revealed to 
her, implores her to be true to the Christian faith, and 
dies. The sultan, in jealousy, thinks her new hesitation 
to marry is due to her loss of love for him, and stabs her 
in a frenzy. The play has splendid stage effect, and is 
written in dignified language ; but it is not fair to com- 
pare it with plays of the great English dramatist. 

Voltaire is also well known as an historian. His largest 
history is the 'Age of Lewis XIV.,' though probably the 
shorter histories of Charles XII. of Sweden 
and Peter the Great are more famous. Vol- 
taire cannot be described as an historian of the modern 
type, a sifter of records, a diligent seeker after fact. As an 
historian he has been compared to Livy, and the com- 
parison is just. The object of both is to give a brilliant 
picture of an epoch, and to write an interesting book. 
Provided that an anecdote will be an ornament to the 
writing,, it matters little whether it be true. Nor can it be 
said that we are expecting from Voltaire a treatment of 
history, the conception of which did not belong to his time. 
Gibbon was his contemporary, and for some years lived 
at Lausanne, which is not far from Ferney, on the banks 
of the lake of Geneva. Gibbon had prejudices, and in 
some respects his mind was not unlike Voltaire's. He 
also was a ' Lord of irony, that master-spell,' but there is 
no comparison between Gibbon's industry and Voltaire's. 
Gibbon's ' Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' re- 
mains one of the great histories of the world. No one 
now studies Voltaire's books for historical knowledge, 
though the smaller histories may still be read as models 
of style. For perspicuous clearness of language and ex- 
cellence of arrangement Voltaire cannot be surpassed. 
Amongst the best of Voltaire's writings, which are 



220 The Early Hanoveria7ts. 

distinguished by their extraordinary variety, the palm 

must be given to the tales ' Zadig ' and ' Can- 
Tales. . 

dide.' The former is an Eastern tale. Zadig, 

the hero, is a sort of Eastern Voltaire, who at first suffers 
many persecutions on account of his desire to do good 
to his fellow-creatures, but lives through them, and 
having just escaped hanging is promoted to be Grand 
Vizier of Babylon. Under his wise rule the kingdom 
rapidly prospers, but the king grows jealous of the queen's 
liking for the new vizier, and his misfortunes recommence. 
Zadig has to escape as a slave, and goes through new 
adventures ; but he was born under a lucky star, and 
ultimately became himself King of Babylon. The story 
is full of satirical allusions to France, and Voltaire's ene- 
mies are introduced into it under disguised names. The 
book is very wittily and gracefully written. 

The tale of ' Candide ' was the fruit of the earthquake 
at Lisbon (1755); a frightful calamity which suddenly 
overwhelmed more than 50,000 people, and 
^t^L^^b^^^^ set men everywhere a-thinking. The popu- 
lar philosophy of the day was what is known 
as optimism, shortly expressed in the phrase of Pope, 
'Whatever is, is right.' Voltaire had never accepted this 
doctrine, and when the earthquake took place he put the 
question seriously in a philosophical poem on the ' Earth- 
quake of Lisbon ' ; he put it once more with mockery and 
ridicule in his liveliest and brightest tale, ' Candide.' Is, 
then, this earthquake right? In the poem Voltaire 
seriously discusses 'the riddle of the painful earth,' and 
a translation of two lines may be quoted as its final 
teaching . — 

One day all will be well, such is our hope. 
All is well here below : — this is illusion. 



Voltaire and Rousseau. Fre^ich Literature. 221 

On the principle that a jest may hit him who a sermon 
flies, ' Candide ' is intended to give a grotesque view of 
the same argument. The best of ali possible worlds is 
held up to ridicule. The simple-minded Candide and his 
preceptor Pangloss in their travels reach Lisbon just before 
the earthquake, from which they suffer. The latter, who 
is always asserting the excellence of the world, is shortly 
afterwards hanged by order of the Inquisition. Candide 
also sees the execution of Admiral Byng in Portsmouth 
harbour, the account of which is famous for the phrase 
pour encourager les autres. Sneers are freely distributed 
through the pages of ' Candide ' ; its moral, if it has one, 
has been well described as 'Be tolerant and cultivate 
your garden,' that is, do diligently the work that comes to 
your hand. 

No account of Voltaire would be complete without some 
reference to his intercourse with Frederick the Great of 
Prussia. That monarch had a great admira- 
tion for Voltaire's writings, and soon after his Frederick 
accession to the throne invited Voltaire to ^^^ Great. 
come to see him. Afterwards he wished him to take up his 
residence at the Court of Berlin. French was the diplo- 
matic language of Europe, and cultivated people in Ger- 
many — Frederick amongst the number — despised their 
own language. The King amused himself by writing 
poems in French, and he thought Voltaire could assist 
him. in his amusement. At first the two enjoyed each 
other's society, but quarrels came, and the first feeling 
was replaced by one less cordial. In the capacity of men 
of letters, Frederick always regarded the poet as supreme, 
but from other points of view he seemed a less desirable 
companion. 

The later part of his life Voltaire, who, by careful^ 
investments, had amassed a large fortune, spent in almost 



222 The Jiarly Hajioverians. 

patriarchal splendour at Ferney. He lived till he was 
eighty-four, and shortly before his death paid 

his life. 3- visit to Paris, when going to the theatre to 

hear his last tragedy he was received with 

much enthusiasm, and was attended to his hotel by a great 

crowd. His last words in public were from the doorstep 

of the hotel, 'You wish to stifle me with roses.' A few 

days later he died. 

The influence of Voltaire on his own and succeeding 

times was so various that it is a little difficult to estimate. 
Carlyle says that there is not one great 

Influence of thouffht in all his writings. There are cer- 

Voltaire. =■ ° 

tainly many thoughts on the right side — for 
beneficence against cruelty, for freedom against tyranny, 
for common sense against superstition, a passionate love 
of justice. The strongest element in the composition of 
Voltaire is wit. Wit may be harmless and may do good, 
but it may also be a deadly solvent. From its very nature 
it cannot be constructive, but it may be, and in Voltaire's 
case it was, destructive. He is not discriminating in his 
irony and sarcasms. In the France in which Voltaire 
found himself there ^was much that required reform or 
removal: a profligate court, a superstitious, careless, or 
even immoral priesthood; the people had no liberty, the 
administration of justice was partial and often cruel. 
Many of these evils were attacked by Voltaire, and many 
were afterwards swept away by the French Revolution. 
We may sum up his influence thus. The French Revolu- 
tion did evil as well as good. One would have been glad 
if the changes which it brought could have come more 
smoothly ; but on the whole the world is the better for it, 
and Voltaire's attacks upon the old order helped to train 
men's minds for the revolution. We might prefer that 
Voltaire had been other than what he was, but the good 



Voltaire a7id Rousseau, French Literature. 223 

in him counterbalances the evil. There are still, however, 
many who look upon him as a sort of incarnation of evil. 
An epigram by Dr. Young, who wrote thfe ' Night Thoughts,' 
gives the orthodox view of his contemporaries about Vol- 
taire. The latter was complaining of the bad taste of 
Milton's description of Sin in the 'Paradise Lost,' and 
^ Dr. Young wrote : — 

You are so witty, profligate, and thin, 

At once we think thee Milton, Death, and Sin. 

Victor Hugo, who has the same sympathy for freedom 
that Voltaire had, yet speaks of him as a missionary of 
the devil, and Dr. Johnson's view is still the current view 
in England. This was Dr. Johnson's opinion of his two 
eminent contemporaries. 

Speaking of Rousseau he said : ' I think him one of the 
worst of men, a rascal who ought to be hunted out of 
society as he has been. Three or four nations ^, 

■' _ Johnson on 

have expelled him, and it is a shame that he Voltaire and 

, . , . „ Rousseau. 

is protected m this country. . . . Rousseau, 

sir, is a very bad man. I would sooner sign a sentence 

for his transportation than that of any felon who has gone 

from the Old Bailey these many years. Yes, I should 

like to have him work in the plantations.' Hereupon 

Boswell asked, ' Sir, do you think him as bad a man 

as Voltaire ? ' and Dr. Johnson replied, ' Why, sir, it 

is difficult to settle the proportion of iniquity between 
them,' 

Jean Jacques Rousseau, whose name is thus coupled 

with that of Voltaire, died within five weeks of Voltaire's 

death. But he was a much younger man. 

Voltaire was eighty-four, Rousseau only sixty- Rousseau.° 

six when he died. In 17 12 Rousseau was 

born at Geneva, where his father was a watchmaker, and 



224 The Early Hanoverians. 

for a while a dancing-master. His mother died shortly 
after his birth, and the boy had a very strange bringing up. 
When he was only ten his father ran away from Geneva 
to escape the consequences of an assault upon an officer. 
An uncle took the neglected boy, and after a couple of 
years' education, which Rousseau never valued, appren- 
ticed him first to a notary, who regarded him as hopelessly 
stupid, and then to an engraver, who treated him with such 
cruelty that at length the boy ran away. From this time 
forward for many years he was a vagabond on the face of 
the earth, always moving from place to place, from employ- 
ment to employment. Now he pretended to be a convert 
to Catholicism, then he became a servant, next he gave 
lessons in music — of which he knew but little : then he 
turned tutor, but for this occupation he lacked patience : 
he acted as a secretary, as a surveyor's clerk, a copier of 
music. He gained his livelihood in various ways, but was 
constant to nothing long. His nature was undisciphned, 
and his own confession ran : ' When my duty and my 
heart were at variance the former seldom got the vic- 
tory. To act from duty in opposition to inclination I found 
impossible.' 

Rousseau was nearly forty before he became an author. 
The Academy of Dijon had offered a prize for an essay 
on the question. Has the progress of the arts 
essay!"^^ ^i^d sciences helped to corrupt or to purify 

morals ? Rousseau determined at once to 
compete, and to take the line that progress had corrupted 
morals. The result was that Rousseau won the prize, and 
that his essay, when published, brought him great fame. 
He had attacked literature, this attack made him a man 
of letters ; he had attacked society, and this attack made 
him the darling of society^ 

Ten years of wandering, but in better circumstances. 



Voltaire and Rousseau. French Literature. 225 

passed after this essay, which made Rousseau famous in 

his own day ; then he pubhshed the first of 

the three books on which his later reputation Three great 

'■ books. 

rests ; and within another eighteen months 

the last. They are called the ' New Heloise,' the ' Social 

Contract,' and ' Emile.' 

The ' New Heloise, or Julie,' may be described as a 
sentimental novel written in the form of letters. The 
original Heloise was a young woman of rank, 
who in the twelfth century was taught by the 
famous schoolman Abelard. Their love and their mis- 
fortunes became famous. So in this story a fierce 
passion of love arose between a tutor and his pupil, a 
baron's daughter. Of course the father indignantly re- 
fused the tutor. This gave Rousseau an opportunity to 
express his sentiments, hostile to rank. These views had 
then the charm of novelty, but have now become almost 
commonplace. The lady afterwards marries, and after 
a while renews a pure friendship for her former tutor. 
The chief notes of the book are the description of pas- 
sionate love on both sides, traced through many phases, 
the numerous attacks on existing customs and social re- 
lations, in which Rousseau speaks his own sentiments in 
the person of the tutor, and the praises of simple, espe- 
cially of country, life. It has been observed that Rousseau 
was the first to awaken that love for the picturesque in 
nature which has distinguished so many writers since his 
time, but which is conspicuously absent from literature 
before his time. 

The second of Rousseau's triad of books was the ' Social 
Contract.' The main doctrine of this political 
treatise was not new, and came from Ensr- ' Social Con- 

' => tract.' 

lish writers, especially from Locke. Inquirers 
had been asking what was the origin and what the basis 

Q 



226 The Early Hanoverians. 

of government. This some found in the ' divine right of 
kings ' ; that is to say, they beheved that God appointed 
kings to govern. Those who did not hke this doctrine 
held that government depended on the mutual agree- 
ment of the governed. This agreement was the social 
contract implied if not actually made. But it follows 
that, if one party break the contract, the other party is 
absolved from it. As the king promises good govern- 
ment, the people promise obedience ; but if the govern-' 
ment be bad, then the people need no longer obey. One 
can easily see how this little book had a potent influ- 
ence amidst the various forces which produced the French 
Revolution. 

The second title of 'Emile' is 'Education.' The book 
is a protest against the prevailing methods of education, 
and is in favour of greater simplicity and more 
natural treatment of children. Begmnmg at 
the very beginning, Rousseau protests against swaddling 
clothes, and wishes mothers to nurse their own children. 
Emile is a boy brought up on the methods of which Rous- 
seau approves; his training is to serve as a model. It 
need hardly be said that the child has no luxuries, goes 
barefoot, has to learn to bear pain, especially pain which 
is the consequence of his own acts. There is to be no 
other punishment than this natural consequence of acts. 
The child is to be encouraged to ask questions of every 
kind, and should receive practical answers — not merely 
in words. Not until twelve is the boy to be taught to read, 
and he is to be taught a handicraft as soon as he is able 
to acquire it. All knowledge of religion is to be kept from 
him whilst he is young ; and Rousseau's own views on that 
subject are given in a famous episode of the book called 
the 'Confessions of a Savoyard Vicar.' His tutor follows 
Emile into society in Paris, where he remains pure amidst 



Voltaire and Rousseau, French Literature. 227 

its corruptions. Afterwards a wife, Sophie, is found for 
him amid country surroundings, and of course the finding 
of Sophie involves a discourse on the education of girls. 
The manifest fault of the book is that the education, which 
at first began with such remarkable freedom, ends in con- 
stant leading strings. One begins to wonder what Emile 
would be like without his tutor constantly at his elbow. 
Few books, however, have ever had so strong an influence, 
and many improvements in education may be traced back 
to the publication of 'Emile.' 

Rousseau's great work was to summon mankind back 
to greater simplicity of life, and to the study of first prin- 
ciples. The effects of his teaching were often very valu- 
able, and it is a question how far he can be held respon- 
sible for the excesses into which men claiming 
to be his followers were led. If his doctrine be ' Follow 

nature. 

summarised in the two words, ' Follow nature,' 
it is essential that we should understand what is meant by 
'nature.' We have a habit of describing a man without 
his clothes as * in a state of nature ' ; but if man has within 
him instincts and feelings that teach him it is better to 
clothe himself, a man is more truly following his nature 
when he has dressed himself. The savage life is not of 
necessity more natural than the civilised, because it is his 
higher, and not his lower nature that man must follow. 

In the 'Confessions of a Savoyard Vicar' Rousseau's 
teaching may be said to have been equally removed from 
the orthodox dogmas of the Church, Catholic 
or Protestant, and from the sceptical teaching Religious 

' ^ ^ views. 

of the philosophers of his day. The vicar be- 
lieves earnestly in the existence and in the goodness of 
God, but he does not accept revealed religion, although 
he allows himself always outwardly to conform. The result 
of this teaching was that the author was persecuted, and 



228 The Early Hanoveriajts. 

was only feebly defended by the philosophers. When a 
young man, Rousseau had gone through the form of con- 
version to Catholicism. In the first blush of his literary 
fame he wished to be a citizen of Geneva, and went 
through the form of conversion to Protestantism. The 
book ' Emile ' was burnt by order of the Parliament of 
Paris ; it was burnt by order of the Council of Geneva. 

Rousseau was driven from France, he was driven 
from Switzerland, and took refuge in Neuchatel, which 
then belonged to Prussia. King Frederick, 
though he did not like Rousseau, was v/illing 
to protect him ; but the inhabitants of the place where he 
was living, being stirred up by the orthodox, used violence 
against him. At length he determined to go to England. 
Here he was treated with the greatest kindness, especially 
by David Hume, the historian and philosopher, who pro- 
cured him a pension from the government of George III.; 
but a suspicious spirit from which Rousseau was always 
suffering, and more and more in his later years, embittered 
his relations even with Hume. After a sojourn of sixteen 
months he fled from England. The later years of his 
life were very unhappy : he was almost out of his mind ; 
over his death there hangs a suspicion of suicide. It was 
during this sad last period that he wrote his autobiography 
under the title of 'Confessions.' It is tolerably certain 
that, so written, they contain as much of imagination as 
of truth. 

It is curious that both Voltaire and Rousseau paid a long 
visit to England, the former deriving more advantage 
therefrom than the latter. Englishmen do 
flu^cfe on not look upon the reign of the first two 

French. Georges as a glorious time; yet at that very 

time leading thinkers of the continent were inclined to 
look upon England as a kind of promised land — a land of 



Voltaire and Rousseau. French Literature. 229 

liberty and progress. This was especially the case with 
Montesquieu. 

Charles Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, was born near 
Bordeaux in 1689 — exactly a century before the French 
Revolution, and just as the English Revolu- 
tion, the effects of which he afterwards admired Montes- 
quieu, 
so much, was being completed. He was a 

French country gentleman, trained to the law, who at an 
early age became President of the Parliament of Bordeaux, 
a provincial law-court of considerable importance. A book 
which he wrote, called ' Les Lettres Persanes,' 
a lively and very witty book, brought him great ' Persian ^ 
fame. This book was one of the first to make 
a farcical correspondence between foreigners a vehicle 
for satire on the country in which the book is published. 
The foreigner is astonished at many things that he sees — 
customs, institutions, religion — and the explanations that 
he receives can easily be made an opportunity for biting 
satire. 

The success of this book determined Montesquieu to 
devote himself to literature, but before writing more he 
travelled through various countries — Austria, Hungary, 
Italy, Holland, England. In the last country he stayed 
two years. He was full of admiration for all that he saw. 
Probably no foreigner ever felt a heartier appreciation 
of the English constitution, and of the toleration, the 
civil and religious liberty enjoyed in England ; and per- 
haps few Englishmen. 

On returning to France, Montesquieu retired from 
society, and lived a studious life amid quiet country sur- 
roundings. Many years later, in 1748, the 
year of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, Mon- ' L'Espnt 

1 T 1 1 1 • ^^^ Lois.' 

tesquieu published his great work, ' L'Esprit 

des Lois.' The levity of tone which marked his earher 



230 The Early Hanoverians, 

book is gone, and has been replaced by a dignity worthy 
of a judge. This book is written with calmness and mod- 
eration ; if when it first appeared it was unheeded, if in the 
revolution its moderate reforms were left far behind — after 
the oscillations of the pendulurn had ceased thd^ men 
appreciated the balanced judgment of Montesquieu. No- 
where was his book more admired than by the best Eng- 
lish thinkers. Edmund Burke was warm in its praise. 



INDEX. 



ACA 

A CADIE, former name of Nova 

■'*- Scotia, 183 

Addison for the Peerage Bill, 46; 
as a minister, 47; his death, 48; 
mentioned, 200 

Aix-la-Chapelle, Congress at and 
peace of (1748), 180 

Albany, Count of, title of Young Pre- 
tender, 173 

Alberoni, his rise, 51 ; good inter- 
nal policy for Spain, 52 ; foreign 
schemes, 53; dismissed, 55 

Alliance, triple and quadruple, 50 

Alsace, 3 

' Analogy,' by Bishop Butler, 192 

Anne, Queen, death of, 10 ; George I. 
once a suitor for her hand, 17 

Anson, Commodore; voyages, 108, 
110-113; made a peer, 113 

Antwerp, captured by Saxe, 176 

Argyle, Duke of," commands royal 
troops at Sheriffmuir, 38 ; brave 
answer to the Queen, 86 

Assiento, 105-6 

Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester, 
guilty of treason, sent into exile, 
69 ; II 

Augustus the Strong, Elector of Sax- 
ony and King of Poland, 9 ; his 
death, 99 ; Marshal Saxe, his nat- 
ural son, 136 

Augustus, son of above. Elector of 
Saxony, also King offPoland, 100; 
his death, 99 

Austria, House of, 7 

Austrian Succession War, 106 

Azof, 93, 98 



•DELGRADE, taken by Eugene, 
■*-' 94, 95 ; lost by Imperialists, 98 ; 

peace of, 98 
Belleisle, Marshal, his plans for di- 



viding Germany, 120 



CAR 

Bentley, controversy with Boyle, 68 

Bergen-op-Zoom, capture of, 177 

Berkeley, Bishop, 192-196 

Bermuda, Christian University in, 
194 

Black Friday, 160 

Bolingbroke, Henry St. John, Lord, 
dismissed from office, 27 ; to be im- 
peached, fled, 32 ; Secretary of 
State to Pretender, 33 ; urges Lewis 
XIV. to help Pretender, 35 ; ' the 
Fifteen ' contrary to his advice, 37 ; 
dismissed by Pretender, 70 ; re- 
stored to England, attainder re- 
verted, property restored, 70 ; his 
writings, 71 

Boswell, James, biographer of John- 
son, 213 

Bremen and Verden acquired, 29 

Brunswick, House of, origin, 14 

Brussels captured by Saxe, 176 

Burke, Edmund, 214; says story of 
Jenkins' ear a fable, 104 ; remark 
about Oglethorpe, 200 ; quoted 
about Montesquieu, 230 

Burns quoted, 201 

Butler, Joseph, Bishop, 190-2 ; pro- 
motion due to Queen Caroline, 83 

Byng, Admiral, his action off Mes- 
sina, 54 

Byron, Lord ; wreck taken from An- 
son's voyage, iii 



r^ ANOVA, sculptor of Stuart monu- 
^~^ ment at Rome, 174 
Canterbury, Archbishop of; State 

of religion in England, 195 
Cape Breton, 181 
Carlisle thinks of resisting Charles 

Edward, 157 
Carlyle, ' Dapper George,' 78 ; on 

Voltaire, 222 
Caroline of Anspach, Queen Consort; 



232 



Lidex. 



CAR I 

character, 8i ; Regent at time of 
Porteous riots, 85 ; her opinion of 
her son, 89 ; death, 89 

Cartagena expedition, 108 

Chambord, 184 

Charles, brother of Emperor Francis, 
defeated at Roucoux, 177 

Charles Albert, Elector of Bavaria, 
118; elected Emperor Charles VII., 
124; a genuine emperor, 135; his 
death, 135 

Charles Edward, see Pretender, 
Young 

Charles VI., Emperor, his death, 114 

Charles VII., see Charles Albert 

Charles XII. of Sweden, 9 ; in Tur- 
key, returns, 30 ; intends to help 
Pretender, 54; death before Fred- 
ericshall, 55 

Chesterfield, Lord, quoted about 
Hanover, 24 ; again as to state of 
England at the Peace of Aix-la- 
Chapelle, 183 

Clifton, skirmish at, last battle fought 
in England, 161 

Cope, Sir John,opposed to Pretender, 
151; at Prestonpans, 153; hears 
news of Falkirk, 164 

Cowper, 202 

CuUoden, battle of, 165 

Cumberland, William Augustus, 

^ Duke of, son of George II. (born 
1721, died 1765), commands allies 
at Fontenoy, 137 ; at Lichfie'd, 158 ; 
at Clifton, 161 ; in command against 
Charles Edward, 164 ; puts down 
rebellion with great severity, called 
'butcher,' 168 



■rjEFOE, 200 

•*-^ Derby, Charles Edward at, 158 

Derwentwater, Earl of, joins in 'the 

Fifteen,' 38 : executed, 42 
Dettingen, battle of, 129 
Don Carlos, appanage wanted for, by 

his mother, 72 ; proposal that he 

should marry Maria Theresa, 73 ; 

King of Two Sicilies, 102 
Don Philip, desire to procure him an 

appanage led Spain into Austrian 

Succession War, 118 
Dresden, Peace of, 134 
Dryden, 201 



T7DINBURGH Castle, nearly 
■^ taken in ' the Fifteen,' 36 



FRE 

Election, General, of 1714, large 
Whig majority, 31 

Elective monarchy, 98, 99 

Elector, title explained, 8 

Electorate (Brunswick-Lijneburg, or 
Hanover) compared with United 
Kingdom, 17; map, 20; unpopu- 
larity of union with, 23 

Elcho, Lord, at CuUoden, 167 

Elizabeth of 13ohemia, 12 

Elizabeth Farnese, Princess of Par- 
ma, second wife of Philip of Spain, 

^ 51 ^ 

Episcopal Church of Scotland, 170 

Ernest Augustus, Elector of Bruns- 
wick- Liineburg, father of George 
I., II ; description of, 16 

Eugene, Prince, at relief of Vienna, 
92 ; in command against Turks in 
war that ended at Peace of Car- 
lowitz, 93 ; also in war that ended 
at Peace of Passarowitz ; battle of 
Peterwaradin ; siege of Belgrade, 
93-5 ; death, 95, 96; his last cam- 
paign, 102 ; view of Pragmatic 
Sanction, 114; Oglethorpe, his A, 
D. C, 123 

Europe, survey of, 2 

Expansion of England, 104 



pALKIRK, battle of, 162 

-'- Fielding, Henry, novelist, 206 

Fleury, Cardinal, French minister, in 
favour of peace, 75, 120 

Fontarabia, 55 

Fontenoy, battle of, 136-143 

Forster, Mr., M. P., general in 'the 
Fifteen,' 38 

France, frontiers of, 3 

Francis, Duke of Lorraine, after- 
wards Grand Duke of Tuscany, 
commander-in-chief of Imperial- 
ists, 97 ; made Grand Duke, loi ; 
marries Maria Theresa, 116; 
elected Emperor, 135 

Frankfort, union of, 133 

Franklin, Benjamin, testimony to 
Whitefield's power, 190 

Frederick, Elector Palatine and 
(Winter) King of Bohemia, 14 

Frederick the Great, remark about 
Pragmatic Sanction, 114; seizes 
Silesia, 115 ; remark to French am- 
bassador, 126 ; said ' army was like 
a serpent,' 128 ; laughs at George 
II. at Dettingen, 131 ; intercourse 



Index, 



233 



FRE 

with Voltaire, 221 ; dealings with 
Rousseau, 228 : opinion about Eu- 
gene, 102; about Saxe, 175; saying 
about Holland, 6 
Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of 
George II. (born 1707, died 1751), 
in opposition, 87; his mother's 
opinion of him, 89 ; gives pension 
to Thomson, 203 

pARDINER, Colonel, killed at 

^^ Prestonpans, 154 

Garibaldi, loi 

Garrick, David, 214 

Genoa, siege of, 179 

George I., accession of, 10; makes 
Cabinet wholly Whig, 28 ; ignorant 
of English, 28; constitutional 
king, 29 ; his death, 76 

George II., Electoral Prince of Han- 
over, 14 ; accession to throne, 78 ; 
appearance and character, 78, 79 ; 
proposed duel with King of Prus- 
sia, 79 ; his avarice, 80 ; he spoke 
bad English, 80 ; dismisses Wal- 
pole, 81 ; takes him back again, 
81 ; remark^about Irish at Fonte- 
noy, 142 ; with army '^n Finchley 
Common ; bravery at news of Fal- 
kirk, 164 ; remark about Bishop 
Berkeley, 196 

Georgia, colony founded, 198, 199 ; 
Wesley in, 187 

Germany, divided, 7 

Gibbon, Edward, 214 ; compared 
with Voltaire, 223 

Gibraltar, siege of, 75 

Glenfinnin, 150 

Glenshiel, Jacobite rising, 300 Span- 
ish soldiers land, 54 

Gloucester, Duke of (son gf Queen 
Anne), death (1700), 29 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 204 ; friend of 
Oglethorpe, 199 

Gottingen University, founded by 
George II., 83 

Grammont, Duke of, commanding a 
division at Dettingen, 129 

Grand Alliance, 3 

Grattan quoted, 143 

Gray, Thomas, 204 ; quoted to show 
state of feeling in 1745, 160 

TJANDEL, Dettingen Te Deuni, 
■'• ■"• 132 ; Hanover, town and 
duchy, not electorate, 14; court 
^escribed, 15 ; kingdom, 25 



LOG 

Hawley, General, in Scotland, 162 
Henry, Cardinal York, 173, 174 
Herrnhut, 187 
Hessians in Edinburgh, 164 
Highland army, nature of, 40 ; roads, 

42 ; feeling about, 134 ; regiments, 

170 
Holland, position in Europe, 6 
Holyrood, Charles Edward at, 152 
Hosier, Admiral, before Porto Bello, 

74 
Howard, John, prison reformer, 196- 

200 
Hume, his history continued, 208 ; 

and Rousseau, 229 

INVERNESS, 151, 166 
-*- Irish at Fontenoy, 142 
Italy, state of, 5 

JENKINS, Captain, lost his ear, 
J 103-106 ; Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 

204,210-215; definition of excise, 

87 ; friend of Oglethorpe, 199 ; 

opinion on Voltaire and Rousseau, 

223 
Juan Fernandez, iii 

TT'ER of Kersland, quoted, 17, 20 



T AUFFELD, battle of, 177 

^-^ Law, John, his financial pro- 
posals, 55 ; dies in poverty at 
Venice, 57 

Leczynski, Stanislaus, King of Po- 
land, 9 ; his daughter marries 
Lewis XV., 74 ; election to throne 
of Poland, 99 ; re-election, 100 ; 
made Duke of Lorraine, loi ; 
death, 103 

Leibnitz, account of, 26; advice to 
George I., 28 

Letters well rewarded, 201 

Lewis XIV., his long wars, 2 ; death, 
48, 215 

Lewis XV., accession, five years 
old, 48 ; marriage, 72, 74 ; the 
' well-beloved,' his illness, 134 ; 
at Fontenoy, 140 

Lichfield, Cumberland at, 158 ; birth- 
place of Johnson, 211 

Lisbon, earthquake at (Nov. i, 1755), 
220 

Livy, compared with Voltaire, 219 

Lochiel, interview with Charles Ed- 
ward, 149 



234 



Index. 



LOG 

Locke, 226 

Lorraine, see Francis, Duke of 
— its position, coveted by France, toi 
Lyttelton, Lord, friend of Thomson, 
203 

TV/TACAO, Anson at, 112 

^^ Macaulay quoted, 200 

Macdonald clan at Culloden, 167; 
Flora heroism of, 172 

Maestricht, capture of, 177 

Mallet, 202 

Manchester, Charles Edward at, 158 

Mar, John, Earl of, ' bobbing John,' 
heads ' the Fifteen,' 35 

Maria Theresa, description and char- 
acter, IIS ; marriage, 116, 117 ; at 
her father's death, archduchess, 
117; crowned at Presbufg (1741) 
Queen of Hungary, 122 ; at Prague 
Queen of Bohemia, 126 ; her cause 
prospering, 132 

Marlborough's campaigns, 6; com- 
pared with Saxe, 174 

Marseilles, plague at, heroic conduct 
of bishop, 59 

Methodists, origin of name, 187 ^ 

Moidart, 149 

Montesquieu, 229-30 

Morea, delivered from Turks, 92 ; 
reconquered by them, 93 ; retained 
by them at peace, 95 

"NJAMUR, captured by Saxe, 176 

■'-^ Necker, 214 

Netherlands, Austrian, 8 ; ' cockpit 

of Europe,' 133 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 26, 77 ; consulted 

as to Wood's pence, 67 
Noailles, Marshal, commanded 

French atiDettingen, 128 
Nova Scotia^foirmerly Acadie, large 

emigration to, 183 

QGLETHORPE, James, General, 

^-^ 196-200 

Onslow, Speaker, story of proposed 

separation from Hanover, 25 ; 

quoted about Saturday holiday in 

House of Commons, 61 
Orleans, Duke of. Regent, 49 ; 

death, 72 
Ormond, Duke of, under restraining 

orders, withdrew troops, 31 ; to be 

impeached, flies, 32 ; his attempts 

in ' the Fifteen,' 37 
Ostend Company, 73 



RAS 

Oxford, Jacobites in, 37 

— Robert Harley, Earl of, to be im- 
peached, imprisoned, prosecution 
dropped, 32 



pASSAROWITZ, Peace of, 95 

-*- Peerage Bill proposed, 44 ; its 
effects, 45 ; rejected by Commons, 
46 

Peter the Great, 10 

Peterborough, Lord, Berkeley his. 
chaplain, 193 

Peterwaradin, battle of, 93 

Pitt, William, afterv/ards Lord 
Chatham, enters Parliament (1735), 
87 ; his education, 88 ; appearance 
and eloquence, 88 ; ' terrible cor- 
net of horse,' 88 ; opinion that 
after Dettingen war should have 
ceased, 132 ; enrols Highland reg- 
iments, 170 

Poland, its condition, 9, 98 

Polish Succession War, 98 

Pope, 200, 201 ; quoted about Jen- 
kins' ear, 103 ; friend of Atterbury, 
69 ; of Bolingbroke, 70, 71 ; quoted 
about Marseilles' good bishop. 59 ; 
about Oglethorpe, 196-8 

Porteous, Capt., 85; riot about his 
reprieve, he is hanged, 85 

Porto Bello, capture of, 106, 107 

Portugal, a blister to Spain, 5 

Pragmatic Sanction, 103, 117 ; finally 
accepted, 181 

Prague, French retreat from, 125, 
126; Maria Theresa crowned at, 126 

Presburg, Maria Theresa crowned 
at, 122 

Preston, battle of, 38 ; Charles Ed- 
ward at, 155 

Prestonpans, battle of, 153 

Pretender, James the Old, 37, 144 ; 
arrives in Scotland too late, 41 ; 
contrast with his son, 147 

— Charles Edward, the Young, ac- 
count of, 145 ; his education, 144 ; 
Jiistory of his attempt to gain crown 
of England for his father, 148-169 ; 
later history, 171-173 

Privateering, 109 

Prussia, 8 



"P ASTADT, Treaty of, 4 
J-^ Regent, Philip, Duke of Orleans, 
50 ; his peace policy, 50 



Index. 



23S 



ileligioil in England, 185 
Revenge on Toty ministers, 31 
Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 214 
Richardsonj Samuel, novelist, 205 
Ripperda, Minister of Spain, 72 
Robinson Crusoe, iii 
Roucoux, battle of, 176 
Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 223-229 

CAND, George, granddaughter of 

*^ Saxe, 184 

Sardinia, King of, 51 ; in Polish Suc- 
cession War, 102 

Saxe, Marshal, 134 ; account of, 136 ; 
ready to cross to England, 148 ; 
campaign ending in invasion of 
Holland, 175; later life, 184 

Saxony, divided, 8; Elector's claim 
in Austrian Succession War, 117 

Scott, 201 ; ' Heart of Midlothian,' 84 

Seckendorf, Eugene's successor, 96 

Selkirk, Alexander, iii 

Septennial Bill, 43 

Seven Weeks' War, 25 

Seville, Treaty of, 75 

Shakspeare compared with Voltaire, 
218 

Sheriffmuir, battle of, 38 

Silesia, 115, 117, 120, 133; ceded to 
Frederick at Peace of Dresden, 181 

Smollett, Tobias, novelist, 208 ; sur- 
geon's mate in Cartagena expedi- 
tion, 109 

Sobieski, John, King of Poland, 9, 
91,147; Mary Clementina, mother 
of Charles Edward, 144 

Sophia Dorothea, of Zell, wife of 
George I., 75 

Sophia, Electress, 14 

South Sea Bubble, 57 

Spain, state of, 4, 52 

Spanish Infanta, sent back to Spain, 

73 , 
Stadtholdership revived, 176 
Stair, Earl of, English commander at 

Dettingen, 127 
Steel, opposed to Peerage Bill, 46 
Sterne, Rev. Laurence, 209 
Stuarts, accounts of various attempts 

to restore, 33 
Swift, Dean, 200 ; and Vanessa, 193 ; 

writes as M. B. Drapier against 

Wood's Pence, 67 

'pHIRTY Years* War, 13, 29 
•*■ Thomson, James, 201-203 
Tinian, Anson at, 112 



Toulon, sea-fight near, 135 
Tournay, siege of, leads to battle of 

Fontenoy, 137 
Turks in Europe, 10, 91 ; in Venice, 92 

TJTRECHT, Peace of, i 

"XTAUBAN, testimony as to condi- 
^ tion of France, 49 

Venice and Turks, 92 

Verden, Bremen and, 29 

Vernon, Admiral, takes Porto Bello, 
107 ; commands navy before Carta- 
gena, 108 

Victor Emmanuel, 102 

Victoria, Queen, 19 ; her accession 
separates Hanover, 25 

Vienna, siege of, 91, 147; Peace of 
(1735), 102 

Vigo, the English take, 55 

Voltaire, 215-223; quoted, 137, 139, 
140 

"X^rADE, Marshal, makes roads in 
** Scotland, 43; opposed to 
Charles Edward, 157 

Walpole, Sir Robert, opposes Peer- 
age Bill, 46 ; called to office after 
South Sea Bubble, 58 ; earlier ca- 
reer, 59 ; policy, peace abroad and 
quiet at home, 60 ; character, 62 ; 
corruption, 63 ; Finance Minister, 
64 ; through love of power does not 
strengthen his ministry, Z^ ; ^ced 
by Pitt, 88 ; loses Queen C M jUne's 
support, 89 ; forced into war with 
Spain, 107 ; resignation, 90; made 
Earl of Orford, 90 ; his prophecy 
that rebellion would be result of 
war, 143 ; his death, 143 ; his an- 
swer about Berkeley, 196 

Wesley, Charles, 188 

—John, 186-188 

Whitefield, George, 189, 190 

William in., 176 

Wood's Pence, 67 

Wordsworth, quoted about Venice, 
92 ; about Thomson, 201 

Wotton, Sir Henry, poem to Eliza- 
beth of Bohemia, 12 

Y'OUNG, ' Night Thoughts,' 203 ; 
^ quoted about Voltaire, 222, 223 

7INZENDORF, Count, 187 



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up in a handsome Box. Sold only in Sets. Price, per set, $15.00. 



*^* T/te above oooks for sale by all booksellers^ or will be sent^ ^ost o-r exprest 
charges jiaidi upon receij>t of the j>rice by the publishers, 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

743 AND 745 Broadway, New YoRit 



Now in process of publication, uniform with Epochs of Modern HiSTony, each 
volume in izmo size, and complete in itself. 

^prlis of JEnttef JlisfoPE. 

A series of Books narrating the HISTORY OF GREECE AND ROME, and of the« 

relations to other Countries at Successive Epochs. Edited by the Rev. G- W. 

COX, M. A., Author of the " Aryan Mythology," " A History of 

Greece," etc., and jointly by CHARLES SANKEY, 

M. A., late Scholar of Queen's College, Oxford. 



Volumes already issued in the " Epochs of Ancient History." Each one volume 

12mo, cloth, $1.00. 



The GREEKS and the PERSIANS. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M. A., late Scholar o£ 
Trinity College, Oxford : Joint Editor of the Series. With four colored Maps. 

The EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE. From the Assassination of Julius Casar to the 
Assassination of Domitian. By the Rev. W. Wolfe Capes, M.A., Reader of An« 
cient History in the University of Oxford. With two colored maps. 

The ATHENIAN EMPIRE from the FLIGHT of XERXES to the FALL of 
ATHENS. By the Rev. G. W. Cox, M. A., late Scholar of Trinity College, Oxford : 
Joint Editor of the Series. With five Maps. 

The ROMAN TRIUMVIRATES. By the Very Rev. Charles Merivale, D. D., 
Dean of E}^y. 

EARLY ROME, to its Capture by the Gauls. By Wilhelm Ihne, Author of "History 

of Rome.-' With Map. 

THE AGE OF THE ANTONINES. By the Rev. W. Wolfe Capes, M. A., Readel 

of Ancient History in the University at Oxford. 

The GRACCHI, MARIUS, and SULLA. By A. H. Beesly. With Maps. 

THE RISE OF THE MACEDONIAN EMPIRE. By A. M. Curteis, M. A. j 
vol., i6mo, with maps and plans. 

TROY — Its Legend, History, and Literature, with a sketch of the Topography of the 
Troad. By S. G. W. Benjamin, i vol. i6mo. With a map. 

ROME AND CARTHAGE. By R. Bosworth Smith, M.A. 

The above 10 volumes in Roxburg Style. Sold only in sets. Price, per set, $10.00. 



*#* The above hooks for sale by all booksellers , or will he sent, Post or express charged 
paid, upon receipt of the price by the Publishers , 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 

743 AND 745 Broadway, New York. 



A New Edition, Library Style. 



®5p IJislPopfi nf (Jppprp. 

By Prof. Dr. EENST OUETroS. 

Translated by Adolphus William Ward, M.A., Fellow of St. Peters College, Cam. 
bridge, Prof, of History in Owen's College, Manchester. 

UNIFORM WITH MOMMSEN'S HISTORY OF ROME, 
.rtve volmmes, crown 8vo, gilt top. Price per set, $10.00. 



Curtius's History of Greece is similar in plan and purpose to Mommsen's 
History of Rome, with which it deserves to rank in every respect as one o£ 
the great masterpieces of historical literature. Avoiding the minute de- 
tails which overburden other similar works, it groups together in a very 
picturesque manner all the important events in the history of this king- 
dom, which has exercised such a wonderful influence upon the world's 
civilization. The narrative of Prof. Curtius's work is flowing and ani- 
mated, and the generalizations, although bold, are philosophical and 
sound. 

CRITICAL NOTICES. 

" Professor Curtius's eminent scholarship is a sufficient guarantee for the trustworthiness 
of his history, while the skill with which he groups his facts, and his effective mode of narrat- 
ing them, combine to render it no less readable than sound. Prof. Curtius everywhere 
maintains the true dignity and impartiality of history, and it is evident his sympathies are 
on the side of justice, humanity, and progress." — London AthencBum. 

" We cannot express our opinion of Dr. Curtius's book better than by saying that it may 
be fitly ranked with Theodor Mommsen's great work." — London Spectator. 

"As an introduction to the study of Grecian history, no previous work is comparable to 
the present for vivacity and picturesque beauty, while in sound learning and accuracy of 
statement it is not inferior to the elaborate productions which enrich the literature of the 
age." — N. y. Daily Tribtme- 

" The History of Greece is treated by Dr. Curtius so broadly and freely in the spirit of 
the nineteenth century, that it becomes in his hands one of the worthiest and most instruct- 
ive branches of study for all who desire something more than a knowledge of isolated facts 
for their education. This translation ought to become a regular part of the accepted course 
of reading for young men at college, and for all who are in training for the free political 
life of our country." — N. Y. Evening Post. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

743 AND 745 Broadway, New York 



A New Edition, Library Style. 



S|p Ifisforg of Ploinp, 

FROM THE EARLIEST TIME TO THE PERIOD OF ITS DECLINE. 

By Dr. THEODOE MOMMSEN. 

Translated, with the author's sanction and additions, by the Rev. W. P. Dickson, Regitts 
Professor of Biblical Criticism in the University of Glasgow, late Classical E-aminer of 
the University of St. Andrews. With an introduction by Dr. Leonhard Sc utz, and 
a copious Index of the whole four volumes, prepared especially for this editi ... 

REPRINTED FROM THE REVISED LONDON EDITION. 
Four Volumes, crown 8vo, gilt top. Price per Set, $8.00. 



Dr. Mommsen has long been known and appreciated through his re- 
searches into the languages, laws, and institutions of Ancient Rome and 
Italy, as the most thoroughly versed scholar now living in these depart- 
ment's of historical investigation. To a wonderfully exact and exhaustive 
knowledge of these subjects, he unites great powers of generalization, a 
vigorous, spirited, and exceedingly graphic style and keen analytical pow- 
ers, which give this history a degree of interest and a permanent value 
possessed by no other record of the decline and fall of the Roman Com- 
monwealth. *' Dr. Mommsen's work," as Dr. Schmitz remarks in the 
introduction, " though the production of a man of most profound and ex- 
tensive learning and knowledge of the world, is not as much designed for 
the professional scholar as for intelligent readers of all classes who take 
an interest in the history of by-gone ages, and are inclined there to seek 
information that may guide them safely through the perplexing mazes of 
modern history." 

CRITICAL NOTICES. 
« A work of the very highest merit ; its learning is exact and profound ; its narrative full 
of genius and skill ; its descriptions of men are admirably vivid. We wish to place on 
record our opinion that Dr. Mommsen's is by far the best history of the Decline and Fall 
of the Roman Commonwealth." — Londo7t Times. 

" This is the best history of the Roman Republic, taking the work on the whole — the 
pthor's complete mastery of his subject, the variety of his gifts and acquirements, his 
graphic power in the delineation of national and individual character, and the vivid interest 
which he inspires in every portion of his book. He is without an equal in his own sphere.'- 
^Edinburgh Review. 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, Publishers, 

^_ 3|t3 AN ii^4i^B ROADWAY, New York- 

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